President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov is on a two-day state visit to Uzbekistan on July 14-15 at the invitation of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan reports.  On Thursday, top-level talks were held in narrow and expanded formats with the participation of government delegations of the two countries.

 The energy sector was also named among a number of priority areas for the development of cooperation.  In particular, during the talks between Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the interest of the Uzbek side in importing electricity, gas and oil products from Turkmenistan was expressed.

 - We intend to further build up partnership in the energy sector, including on issues of electricity, gas and oil products from Turkmenistan, - President Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized in his speech to the press.

 The head of Uzbekistan also noted that the priority direction of bilateral cooperation is the further expansion of trade and economic cooperation.  In recent years, the trade turnover between our countries has grown 5 times.  There is every opportunity to bring the volume of trade to more than 1 billion dollars by the end of this year, and in the medium term it can be doubled, because there is every reason for this.

 In turn, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov noted that our country is looking forward to continuing partnership in the energy sector.

 - The common asset already has a large energy project implemented - the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline, - the head of state said, declaring his intention to consider, together with Uzbek partners, opportunities for a significant increase in energy supplies and expanding their transit configuration.

 During the talks, Serdar Berdimuhamedov invited the Uzbek leader to pay a visit to Turkmenistan at a convenient time for him.  The invitation was gratefully accepted.  The dates of the visit will be agreed through diplomatic channels.

Following the high-level talks in Tashkent, Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Serdar Berdimuhamedov signed a Joint Statement.  A package of 19 documents was signed between the ministries and departments of the two countries, including programs for trade and economic cooperation and the development of industrial cooperation for 2022-2025, on scientific and technical cooperation for 2022-2024.

 Along with this, in Tashkent, a number of contracts were signed between the business structures of the two countries on the export and import of the furniture complex, confectionery, chemical and agricultural products.  Agreements were also reached on the design of an enterprise for the production of cars in Turkmenistan and on the implementation of construction work in Uzbekistan.

 In general, the amount of contracts concluded between the business circles of friendly states amounted to over 450 million US dollars.

 All this was a clear confirmation of the strategic nature of interstate relations, the systematic strengthening of the legal basis for multi-vector partnership with a long-term perspective.