Speaking at the end of a meeting on Iran-Turkmenistan cooperation, Abbas Akhundi said 'Our main goal in developing transportation cooperation is to reduce transit costs for Member States of the Ashgabat Agreement through the North-South corridor.'
The Ashgabat agreement is a multimodal transport agreement between India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Oman, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
The Iranian minister said the political will of Iran and Turkmenistan was based on removing existing obstacles in the way of developing bilateral relations.
Referring to the current visit to Tehran of a Turkmen delegation led by the country's Foreign Minister Rashid Moradov, Akhundi said the visit showed that Tehran and Ashgabat were seriously determined to strengthen bilateral ties.
The two sides have held good negotiations on banking cooperation and reached some agreements in the field of energy, he said, adding that Turkmenistan has agreed to swap gas with Iran.
The Turkmen foreign minister, heading a top-level politico-economic delegation arrived in Tehran Saturday to explore avenues for expansion of all out relations with Iran.
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Tehran, May 14, IRNA - With Ashgabat Agreement taking effect, the cost of goods transit between Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Oman will reduce, the Iranian minister of roads and urban development said Sunday.
