Iran’s President Leaves for Turkmenistan


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday morning left Tehran for Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, for talks with senior officials of the Central Asian country on bilateral, regional and international issues.

Rouhani’s two-day visit to Turkmenistan at the head of a high-ranking delegation comes at the official invitation of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.

He will later travel to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Before leaving Tehran, the president told reporters at Mehrabad Airport that one of the main priorities of his administration is promotion of ties with neighboring countries.

Hailing the good level of Iran’s relations with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, he said there are still many capacities for further development of all-out ties with the two neighbors.

On Monday, the president’s deputy chief of staff for communications and information, Parviz Esmaeili, said that during the visit, Iran and Turkmenistan would sign documents for cooperation in the presence of the two presidents while the Iranian and Turkmen tradesmen would also discuss possible avenues for boosting trade ties.

He added that the Iranian chief executive would pay a short visit to the ancient city of Merv on Wednesday.

Esmaeili further stated that the Iranian president would head for Baku Wednesday evening to hold talks with his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliyev.

In the presence of Rouhani and Aliyev, Tehran and Baku are scheduled to sign several cooperation documents after which the two presidents will attend a joint press conference, he added.

The Iranian official said an economic meeting would be held on Thursday to discuss the strengthening of cooperation among the two countries’ state-run sectors and economic agents.