On February 26, the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov received Minister of Road and Urban Development of the Islamic Republic of Iran Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi, who had arrived in the Turkmen capital. During an interest-based exchange of views on the prospects of bilateral cooperation, one of the key directions of which is the trade-economic sector, the head of state and his guest have noted a positive role of the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Iranian Commission for Economic Cooperation, as well as exhibitions and business forums held regularly in advancing business contacts and increasing trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Iran. The traditional specialized exhibition of Iran, at which the neighboring state’s leading companies and industrial centers demonstrated their products and technologies, serves as an eloquent example. In this regard, it was noted that the representative composition of Iran’s delegation, which had arrived in Ashgabat to participate in the exhibition, and in the business forum, is indicative of Iranian partners’ keen interest in the actively developing Turkmen market with its investment-favored climate and all possibilities created for fruitful cooperation in various sectors. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the guest expressed profound gratitude to the head of Turkmen state for providing excellent conditions for the events. In continuation of the meeting, the President of Turkmenistan and the Minister of Road and Urban Development of Iran confirmed mutual intention of the sides to further strengthen and boost the effective cooperation on a long-term basis, given modern realities and prospects for new joint projects. The guest has emphasized that Iran attaches much importance to the forthcoming official visit of President of Iran Hassan Rouhani to Turkmenistan and the summit talks to be held in Ashgabat to consider a wide spectrum of issues of the bilateral relations. The transport sector, in which Turkmenistan had put forward a number of important initiatives on creating the regional and international transport-communications infrastructure, was mentioned as one of the vital areas of the partnership. The North-South transnational steel artery serves as an eloquent example of successful combined efforts. In this aspect, the Iranian party made proposals on cooperation in this priority sphere.