Iran, Turkmenistan to Revive Gas Deal: President

In remarks at a meeting with Iranian business people and private sector activists residing in Turkmenistan, held in Ashgabat on Sunday morning, Raisi said one of his administration’s top priorities is to enhance the country’s economic, trade and commercial activities.

"Increasing exports means that the current situation is well studied and appropriate solutions are adopted to remove the obstacles and problems,” the president said.

Highlighting Tehran’s push for closer cooperation with the neighboring and regional countries, Raisi said, "There is a suitable economic and trade infrastructure to develop and enhance the level of bilateral and regional cooperation in our country.”

"By attending the Shanghai Summit in Tajikistan, a suitable platform has been created for the development of regional relations in the country, and we are witnessing good opportunities in the field of improving the level of relations between Tehran and Dushanbe," he added, according to the administration’s official website.

"There is no serious and special problem in the development of relations with neighboring countries and the region, and by interacting with each other and mutual understanding, while solving existing problems, effective steps can be taken to strengthen and consolidate relations," Raisi stated.

Referring to his talks with his Turkmen counterpart on the development of bilateral relations in various sectors, including gas and transit, President Raisi said, "Today, Turkmenistan is confident that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to solve the problems and remove the existing obstacles.”

"The gas agreement between Iran and Turkmenistan will definitely be revived,” he noted.

"Regional and neighboring countries, due to deep cultural and historical commonalities, prefer to cooperate and have relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and in this regard, barriers to the activities of traders and exporters should be removed," the president underscored.

The president also highlighted the efforts to implement the ECO cooperation agreements, saying, "We will seriously pursue the implementation of the cooperation agreements."

Stressing the need to repatriate the currency earned from the exports, the Iranian president said, "In this regard, a review should be done in the course of affairs so that the fulfilment of foreign exchange obligations of exporters and traders will not harm them."

"Unfortunately, some issues with neighboring countries have become difficult due to lack of timely follow-up, and we are determined to solve these problems and prevent the recurrence of such cases," he concluded.