“Iran and Turkmenistan has inked several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) which need to be put into practice,” said the Governor of Iran Customs Administration (ICA) Masoud Karbasian during a meeting with his Turkmen counterpart.
Karbasian noted that Iran and Turkmenistan possess great potentials for cooperation in various areas like handcrafts and agriculture which can be exploited appropriately; “in addition to transit, the two sides are able to exchange their products with great ease.”
He pointed to high capabilities of Lotfabad customs which enjoys state-of-the-art facilities and adequate equipment including an up-to-date x-ray scanner as well as detection dogs.
“Indeed, Turkmenistan has also established a suitable customs office which facilitate exchange of goods,” underlined the official encouraging the Turkmen side to eliminate emerged time restrictions at Sarakhs customs.
Karbasian emphasized the intention to create common customs gates between Iran and some neighboring countries saying “these gateways can put an end to duplications in addition to saving time and money.”
ICA governor enumerated further advantages of forming joint customs gates including increased rapidity, accuracy of information exchange as well as preventing possible corruption.
The plan is being finalized with a number of neighbors, said the official expressing hope that a relevant deal will also be inked with Turkmenistan in near future.
Also at the meeting, Head of State Customs Service of Turkmenistan Mammetkhan Chakyev expressed satisfaction towards the visit to Iran referring to establishment of common customs gates saying “the issue has been raised during bilateral negotiations as a joint border session of the two countries will be held soon.”
“We are proud of Iran’s economic achievements,” noted Chakyev reassuring the Iranian side of increased truck traffic at Turkmenistan’s customs borders.
He also maintained that issues relating to transit at bordering customs with Iran will be carried out via online networks in future; “the issue will certainly bring about subsequent development of transport with Iran.”
Iran and Turkmenistan have so far sealed five MoUs over customs cooperation the implementation of which can extensively boost trade volume between the two sides.
Iran’s exports to Turkmenistan were worth over 805 million dollars in 2015 and its imports from the neighboring country amounted to 15.2 million dollars.
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