Iran private sector urged Turkmen officials to establish Turkmenistan-Iran Joint Chamber of Commerce in a bid to booster bilateral economic relations.
Gholam Hossein Shafei, President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) called on Turkmenistan officials on Monday to set Turkmenistan-Iran Joint Chamber of Commerce so that the two countries’ bilateral relations are further developed.
He made the remark in a meeting with Turkmenistan’s Minister for Trade and Foreign Economic Relations Amandurdy Ishanov in Avazah on the sidelines of the First Caspian Sea Economic Forum.
Shafei mentioned that Iran private sector has already set up Iran-Turkmenistan Joint Chamber of Commerce that shows how important trade with Turkmenistan is for his country.
The First Caspian Sea Economic Forum was held in the Awaza Touristic Zone in Turkmenistan on Monday.
“I hope the forum will be the beginning of a new era for economic relations between the five Caspian Sea littoral states,” said Shafei.
“Foreign trade volume of Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia are $950bn but trade volume between the five is $25bn. This shows that developing economic ties between themselves hasn’t been the priority of the five countries,” he added, calling on governments to pave the way.
President of Iran private sector parliament also called for the creation of a permanent secretariat of public and private sectors of the five littoral states to follow up on the forum’s approvals and decisions.
“Turkmenistan president has ordered necessary measures to help accelerate construction of railways between the two countries to boost bilateral trade,” said Amandurdy Ishanov, stressing that agricultural and petrochemical products are the most important trade items between Tehran and Ashgabat.
Ishanov called on Iran’s private sector to help build better roads in the country and develop aquaculture industry between the two countries.