Heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, Mahmoud Vaezi, the Chief of Staff of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, arrived in Turkmenistan's capital on Wednesday morning.
Vaezi made the remarks in a meeting with Turkmenistan Foreign Minister Raşit Meredow on Wednesday afternoon, during which the two sides emphasized deepening and accelerating bilateral relations in various fields.
Emphasizing that Iran's foreign policy is to develop relations with its neighbors, the chief of staff of Iranian president said "Iran and Turkmenistan have long historical relations and deep cultural ties with each other,” adding that Iran is ready to develop bilateral relations with Turkmenistan in all fields.
Referring to the common areas of cooperation between the two countries, Vaezi said that economic and commercial relations between the two countries in various fields are in good condition.
Meanwhile, he stressed that Tehran and Ashgabat can further increase their trade relations.
The chief of staff of Iranian president said that Tehran sees no restrictions on bilateral cooperation with Ashgabat in various fields such as energy, customs cooperation, technical and engineering services, transportation and transit, and maritime cooperation in the Caspian Sea.
Vaezi further noted that the common borders and cultural commonalities between the two countries provide a good opportunity for boosting trade and tourism relations, calling on the Turkmen side to cooperate on the removal of barriers on the way of expansion of trade and tourism relations.
Raşit Meredow, for his part, expressed his happiness with Vaezi’s visit to Ashgabat, hailing the long-standing relations between the two countries.
"Tehran and Ashgabat have long-standing and historic relations and the cultural commonalities between the two countries pushes them towards development of bilateral relations in all fields,” Meredow said.
He said that Iran has a ‘special position’ in Turkmenistan’s foreign policy.
The Turkmen foreign minister said that the regular exchanges of visits by the two sides’ officials indicate their willingness to expand their relations.
He emphasized the common areas of cooperation between the two countries, adding that Iran could help Turkmenistan in various fields of maritime, air and rail transport, trade relations, technical and engineering services.
"Ashgabat sees no obstacles to the development and expansion of bilateral and regional ties with Tehran,” Meredow said, adding “we believe that the two neighboring countries of Iran and Turkmenistan have numerous common interests which entails removal of all existing barriers and expansion of their relations.”
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