ASHGABAT (TCA) — The 7th meeting of the Joint Turkmen-German Working Group was held in Ashgabat on May 11 to discuss issues of increasing bilateral trade and economic cooperation, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan reported.
The German delegation was led by Deputy Minister and Head of the Foreign Economic Policy Department of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy of the Federal Republic of Germany Mr. Eckhard Franz.
German companies were among the first to come to the Turkmen market. The fact that many well-known German companies opened their representative offices in Turkmenistan is a confirmation of the German business community’s desire to consolidate its position in the promising Turkmen market.
At the meeting, the parties exchanged views on prospects for the development of long-term cooperation, as well as implementation of previously reached agreements, including the ones formed during the previous meeting held last April in Berlin.
The co-chairs of the Working Group noted that among the key partnership vectors is the fuel and energy sector in which gas-rich Turkmenistan is implementing the strategy of radical modernization of the material and technical base of the industry, diversification of export routes for energy supplies, including in the European direction.
The German side expressed interest to participate in major Turkmen infrastructural projects, in particular the reconstruction of the seaport in the city of Turkmenbashi and creation of the National Tourist Zone Avaza.
An important sphere of bilateral relations is the agro-industrial complex, development of cooperation in the field of agricultural machinery supplies to Turkmenistan. In this aspect, attention was drawn to the expansion of the service base of German companies in Turkmenistan, and their more active participation in the training of local engineering and technical personnel.
German companies are also able to provide assistance in the field of ecology, arrangement of natural, archaeological and historical cultural facilities on the basis of the latest “green” technologies, active leisure infrastructure, and improvement of the Turkmen hotel industry.
