Tehran, Ashgabat after huge goods-for-energy barter
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File photo shows Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) meeting with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow in Ashgabat on March 11, 2015.
An Iranian Petroleum Ministry official says Iran and Turkmenistan have envisioned a $30bn barter deal in their economic exchange.
The deal allows for Iranian goods and services to be bartered for Turkmenistan’s natural gas, the official IRNA news agency quoted Mohammad Taqi Amanpour, the Iranian oil minister’s special representative in the exports of commodities and services.
The official said the two countries have already finalized a $500mn agreement on the export of Iranian goods and services to its northeastern neighbor.
The report added that the massive deal envisages such barter to take place in the course of the next 10 years.
Turkmenistan, Iran’s largest natural gas supplier, has run the barter deal with Tehran over the past one and a half years; yet only a faction of the agreement ($2.5bn) has been implemented, the official noted.
Back in May, President Hassan Rouhani stressed the importance of cooperation between the two nations and urged a boost in such ties.
President Rouhani commended bilateral relations in energy and power sectors, calling for enhanced cooperation in other sectors, including tourism, environment preservation of the Caspian Sea region and determination of its legal regime. He made the call during a visit by Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov to Tehran.
Although bilateral trade has not surpassed $5 billion over the past few years, officials of the two countries say a $60 billion target is achievable, given enormous potentials which exist for cooperation.
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