Turkmen president to visit Kazakhstan

By Kamila Aliyeva

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov is expected to visit Kazakhstan on April 12, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said at a meeting with representatives of the diplomatic corps, TASS reported.

"The recent visit of the Uzbek president to Kazakhstan was successful, and the Turkmen President will soon arrive in Astana. Thus we can see that the political life of our country is full of major events," Abdrakhmanov said.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev invited his Turkmen counterpart to visit Astana during a telephone talk in February. The two Presidents stressed the importance of further strengthening ties in the political, economic and cultural-humanitarian spheres.

Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan were established on October 5, 1992. The legal framework of bilateral cooperation includes more than 70 documents.

The Kazakh-Turkmen Intergovernmental Commission (IC) on Economic, Scientific-Technical and Cultural Cooperation plays a crucial role in the implementation of the economic potential of the two countries.

The trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for the end of 2015 amounted to $319.7 million, while in January-August of 2016 it was $177.1 million.

Plant products, metal goods, natural calcium phosphate, timber and its products, rolled metal products, as well as flour, confectionary and flour products are major export items of Kazakhstan.

In its turn, Turkmenistan exports to Kazakhstan gas, oil and petroleum products, motor vehicles, fresh and refrigerated tomatoes, engines and power plants.