On March 11, the Turkmen capital hosted the talks between President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani, who had arrived in our country on a state visit the day before. In the morning, the automobile of the high guest accompanied by the mounted escort of honor headed towards the “Oguzkhan” Presidential Palace Complex. The President of Turkmenistan warmly welcomed the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the main entrance of the Palace. After an official arrival ceremony, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov invited his Iranian counterpart to proceed to the Hall of Bilateral Meetings to hold the talks in the one-to-one format. As the leader of nation noted, this year’s February marked the 23rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran. As the head of state said, the trade and economic relations between our countries are actively developing; efficient cooperation has been established in the fields of oil and gas, transport and communications, water economy, electric power, and some others. In this connection, the President of Turkmenistan stressed a significant role of the Joint Intergovernmental Turkmen-Iranian Commission for Economic Cooperation. At the same time, the nation’s leader highlighted a high level of humanitarian contacts between the two countries, having cited as an example Culture Days of the Islamic Republic of Iran, recently held in Turkmenistan, as well as the extensive joint work ongoing in the fields of science and education, sports and tourism. Appreciative of the cordial reception, the head of neighboring state Hassan Rouhani has emphasized that he is delighted to have the opportunity to visit the Turkmen land. President Hassan Rouhani stated that only over one year and a half (since he became the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran) meetings were held between the heads of two friendly countries in Teheran, Dushanbe, Astrakhan, as well as at the frontier station – Incheburun, where the ceremony of connecting the two sections of the transnational Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran trunk railway took place. Our present meeting is destined to advance the interaction to new levels, fill it with new practical content, the head of Iran stressed. Making an emphasis on similarity of the parties’ views on a number of key international issues, President Hassan Rouhani has underlined that Iran supports Turkmenistan’s international initiatives aimed at establishing and maintaining a climate of mutual understanding and trust on the planet. Having highly appraised the foreign policy course and neutrality status of Turkmenistan, the President of Iran gratefully accepted an invitation of the President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov to pay a visit to our country in the running year’s December to participate in the high-level International Conference “Policy of Neutrality: International Cooperation for Peace, Security and Progress”, and festive events. Then, the talks continued in the enlarged format – in the “Sultan Sanjar” Hall – with participation of the two countries’ official delegations. Having stressed productivity of the bilateral talks in the one-to-one format, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has noted that Turkmenistan and Iran have the same viewpoints on such topical issues of today as maintenance of peace, security and sustainable development. Our countries closely cooperate within international organizations, first of all, the United Nations Organization. The Iranian side always evinces interest in our country’s international initiatives, giving wide support to them. Turkmenistan and Iran, the leader of nation said, take an active part in talks to determine the legal status of the Caspian Sea. On the basis of the initiatives put forward by the two countries, a reliable contractual legal framework regulating the relations between the Caspian Sea Littoral states in different spheres is being formed. New forms of mutually beneficial cooperation are developed in the Caspian Region in the spheres of security, emergency situations, trade-economic, transport and communications, ecology and other important areas. These lead to strengthening of trust between the littoral states, and create favorable conditions for their mutually balanced dialogue. As President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov noted further, the positive dynamics of the intergovernmental partnership development is demonstrated by evergrowing bilateral trade turnover, what testifies to the enormous potential available for the trade and economic relations expansion. Turkmenistan and Iran are among the countries, which are the world’s top producers of energy resources, first of all, oil and natural gas. This creates favorable opportunities for fruitful cooperation aimed at strengthening energy security in the world and the region. Having confirmed Turkmenistan’s interest in promoting the cooperation in the energy sector, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov spoke in favor of developing and practical implementing large-scale joint projects in this field. Along with the fuel and energy complex, the neighboring countries also maintain effective cooperation in other branches of the economy. Construction of the Tejen-Serahs-Mashhad railway, the Korpeje-Gurtguyi and Serahs-Khangeran gas pipelines, the “Dostluk” water reservoir, as well as many other industrial facilities can be cited as examples. All of these, as a whole, serve the interests of our peoples and contribute to strengthening the brotherly relations between them, the Turkmen leader stressed. Focusing on the international cooperation in the sphere of transport and communications, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has noted that successful implementation of the global transport strategy is facilitated by the countries’ and regions’ favorable geographical location, joining of their technical and technological potential. The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, which was put into operation at the end of last year, and is destined to become an important part of the “North-South” transport corridor, serves as an eloquent example. The construction of the railway is a result of our steadily strengthening good neighborly, brotherly and friendly relations, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov said. As noted by the Turkmen leader, the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway makes positive influence on the transport system of the entire Eurasian area, creates prospects for European countries to gain access from the ports on the Baltic Sea to the countries of the Near and Middle East, and to the Indian Ocean basin countries. The President of Turkmenistan also stressed the need to expand a range of activities of the Joint Turkmen-Iranian Commission for Economic Cooperation, since concrete directions of interaction are considered in the frames of the Commission, paving the way for many constructive endeavors. At the same time, there is considerable potential available for partnership in the light and machine-building industries, agriculture, processing industries, construction, transport and communications. The floor was given to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Outlining the economic relations among priorities of the bilateral cooperation, for intensification of which there is considerable potential, the President of Iran has expressed confidence that the results of the present meeting will be for the benefit of the two nations and peoples of the region. Thus, if last year, the trade turnover between our countries came up to US $3.7 billion, then today we expressed an intention to bring this index to US $60 billion within the next 10 years. Having confirmed Iran’s great interest in advancing the bilateral cooperation in all its key areas, President Hassan Rouhani has underlined that the ready-for-signing documents are destined to directly facilitate rapid realization of the joint projects which are being implemented for the benefit of not only the Turkmen and Iranian nations, but also peoples of the entire region. The projects in the oil and gas industry were mentioned among the most important ones. “Our countries are reckoned among the largest oil and gas producers, and the partnership in this direction will be considerably broadened in the future”, the Iranian leader assured. Thus, cooperation is expected in the issue related to Turkmenistan’s oil and gas transit to other countries via Iran. Besides, an exchange of opinions was also held on the issue of further increasing Turkmen gas export to Iran. Iran, President Hassan Rouhani continued, is interested in cooperation in the energy sector, including delivery of Turkmen electric power. Having noted the transport sphere among prospective trends of the effective cooperation, the President of Iran stressed that agreements had been reached to increase transportation of goods by rail between the two countries to 10 million tons a year, and besides, to intensify the Oman-Iran-Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan transport corridor. As the Iranian leader underlined, this issue assumes special significance in the modern period in the context of further development of the economic relations between the countries. President Hassan Rouhani also named the joint work on the issue of improving the legal basis of the Caspian Sea as one of the priority areas of the Turkmen-Iranian cooperation. In particular, it will enable to determine the potential for joint exploration activity in the offshore oil and gas fields. The head of Iran also spoke in favor of joint projects in the field of construction of different facilities in the petrochemical industry and other sectors. As President Hassan Rouhani noted partnership in the banking system and active involvement of the two countries’ entrepreneurs in cooperation in the trade-economic sphere are of great importance. This means relevant preferences and benefits granted to businessmen. Then the ceremony of signing bilateral documents was held in the “Seljuk khan” Hall. The documents signed are: the Protocol for the extradition of convicted persons to the Agreement between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for mutual assistance in criminal matters; the Program for cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran for 2015-2020; the Memorandum of Understanding on environmental cooperation between the Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan and Department of Environment of the Islamic Republic of Iran; the Program for cooperation in culture, art, science, and education between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for 2015-2018; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Finance of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance of the Islamic Republic of Iran on cooperation in exchange of financial information related to money laundering and financing of terrorism; the Memorandum of Undersigning between the “Turkmenavtoyollary” State Concern of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development of the Islamic Republic of Iran on construction of a new road bridge at the “Serahs-Serahs” checkpoint; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on cooperation in construction of auto-roads; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on further cooperation in the electric power industry; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on supplying goods and products for the chemical industry; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on cooperation in supplying goods and products for the agricultural sector; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on cooperation in supplying goods and products for the railway sector; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on rendering assistance to enterprises and companies of the private sector of Turkmenistan in supplying goods and products; the Agreement between the National Institute of Manuscripts of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan and the Centre for International Education and Research under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran for cooperation in the field of ancient manuscripts, documents and research activities; the Agreement for cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Islamic Republic of Iran; the Memorandum of Understating between the Akhal velayat khyakimlik of Turkmenistan and the provincial authority of North Khorasan Province of the Islamic Republic of Iran on trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Balkan velayat khyakimlik of Turkmenistan and the provincial authority of Golestan Province of the Islamic Republic of Iran on trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Mary velayat khyakimlik of Turkmenistan and the provincial authority of Razavi Khorasan Province of the Islamic Republic of Iran on trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation. The official visit of President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani to Turkmenistan resulted in signing a Joint Statement. Upon completion of the signing ceremony, the leaders of two countries proceeded to the “Magtymguly” Hall and made addresses to the press. In the afternoon, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran laid a wreath at the Monument of Independence of Turkmenistan. Following the well-established tradition, the Iranian leader planted a young tree on the Honorary Guests Alley in the Park of Independence, as a symbol of unbreakable friendship between the two countries and the peoples. After that, the motorcade of the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran proceeded to the “Mizan” Business Centre, where the Turkmen-Iranian Business Forum was held with participation of President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and President Hassan Rouhani. That same day, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran went to Kipchak to pay the tribute to the memory of the first President of Turkmenistan, to take part in the flower-laying ceremony at the Mausoleum and visit the Mosque of Spirituality. In the evening, an official dinner in honor of the eminent Iranian guest was given on behalf of the President of Turkmenistan. Then, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani proceeded to the Ashgabat International Airport and departed for his country.