Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov congratulated Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on his birthday during a telephone conversation, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry reports.
The day before, Berdimuhamedov had also sent a letter.
Berdimuhamedov said: "Uzbekistan has entered a new stage in its development. Today, large-scale transformations are being carried out in the Republic aimed at improving the well-being of the people and the country's authority on the world stage".
The heads of state also exchanged views on "the prospects of interstate cooperation that meets the fundamental interests of the Turkmen and Uzbek peoples".
The parties noted the active development of the partnership in a wide range of areas, including agriculture, electric power, oil and gas complex, chemical industry.
"At the same time, it was emphasized that there is a great untapped potential, the realization of which will certainly serve the interests of both sides."
Turkmenistan has ranked eighth among Uzbekistan's trade partners since the beginning of the year. In the first half of 2023, the total trade turnover (with a significant surplus in favor of Turkmenistan) amounted to $438.2 million, up 1.5% year-on-year.
Berdimuhamedov recently signed a decree to build a trade center on the territory bordering Uzbekistan. The project is expected to be completed in a year.
The basis was a bilateral agreement signed back in 2021. In general, the border trade zone will cover the contiguous territory of the two countries - on the border of Dashoguz province of Turkmenistan and Khorezm province of Uzbekistan, near the Dashoguz-Shavat checkpoint.
In this way, the two countries want to double the volume of mutual trade, which amounted to nearly $1bn last year, five times more than in 2017.
On both sides of the border live significant diasporas of ethnic Uzbeks in Turkmenistan (about 300,000) and Turkmens in Uzbekistan (about 200,000), who count on the dynamism of mutual trade transactions.
Credits: Eziz Boyarov
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