Iran, Turkmenistan ink 5 cooperation deals

Iran and Turkmenistan have signed five agreements for cooperation in different fields, as Tehran pushes to further bolster relations with neighbours and regional countries in the face of Western sanctions.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, chairman of Turkmenistan’s People’s Council, inked the documents for cooperation in the fields of energy exchanges, diplomacy, customs affairs, as well as university ties during a ceremony in Tehran on May 30, the state-run IRNA reports.

Earlier, Iran's Oil Minister Javad Owji said that Tehran will soon sign a contract with Turkmenistan to import 10 million cubic meters of gas.

He said on May 30 that Iran had the capacity to swap and transit up to 50 million cubic meters of gas per day, and added Tehran was planning to increase its share of gas trade in the region. 

The minister recalled that Iran had fully settled its debts to Turkmenistan. 

Iran's $2 billion debt to Turkmenistan stemmed from a ruling made by the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) in 2020. Turkmenistan sued Iran over its failure to pay for gas it imported between 2007 and 2013.

The Raisi administration has been pushing to forge closer relations with neighbours as well as regional and Muslim nations, as part of a campaign against the tough US sanctions in place against the country.

According to the Iranian administration’s Spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi, the volume of Iran’s trade with Central Asia, the Caucasus region and Russia witnessed a 50-per cent boost in the past two months.