Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu said that the rapprochement of the countries of Central Asia is a “need for time.”
Nurtleu met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov, who arrived in Kazakhstan on an official visit.
During a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Astana, the parties discussed cooperation issues in the political, trade, economic, transport, energy, cultural and humanitarian spheres of Kazakh-Turkenic relations.
In his statement for the press after the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan said that during bilateral and delegate meetings with the Turkmen colleague Meredov, new areas of interaction in relations between the two countries were determined, adding: “The rapprochement of the countries of Central Asia is the need for our time” .
The Minister noted that the volume of bilateral trade over the past 5 years has increased by 4 times and increased by 28 percent to $ 563 million last year: “We are aimed at increasing bilateral trade to $ 1 billion in the near future.”
In the field of transport, according to Nurtleu, an agreement was reached on the integrated development of the potential of the railway line on the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran route, as well as an increase in the volume of cargo transportation between the ports of Aktau and Turkmenbashi on the Caspian Sea.
According to the statement of the President of Kazakhstan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Merdov was also adopted by President Kasim-Zhomart Tokayev.
During the meeting, projects were discussed that are planned to be implemented between the two countries in the field of trade, economics, energy, transport and logistics.