Ashgabat, Astana pay great attention to resolving Caspian Sea issues

By  Trend

Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan pay great attention to efforts to resolve the Caspian issues, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said in Ashgabat at a meeting with Kazakhstan's Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador Zhandos Asanov, the Turkmen government said in a report.

"Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are connected with long-standing ties of friendship and productive cooperation," the ambassador stressed. "Special attention is also paid to efforts to resolve the Caspian issues. Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are strategic partners, as evidenced by the treaty signed in April 2017 in Astana."

The sides noted the existence of significant potential for building up interaction in trade and economy, transport, communications and energy sector, the Turkmen state agency TDH reported.

A Turkmen delegation's participation in the 5th summit of the heads of the Caspian states, which is to be held in Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Aug. 12, was discussed at the last government meeting in Ashgabat.

Ashgabat and Astana regularly discuss partnership in the gas sector and the development of cross-border mineral deposits. Kazakhstan is involved in a major project for the delivery of Central Asian gas to China. CNPC has been purchasing Turkmen fuel from 2009 through the territory of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Among other significant areas of cooperation, there is the transport sector. A project to build a transnational Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway was completed in December 2014. Goods can be transported without any restrictions to the countries of the Persian Gulf, to the Indian Ocean and to Europe thanks to this route.

Kazakhstan joined the Central Asia-Middle East (Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman) transport corridor project in 2016. The new corridor will allow the Central Asian countries to connect to the ports of the Persian and Oman gulfs through optimal routes in the future.