Ashgabat: Turkmenistan has expressed a strong potential for boosting trade turnover with members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), as detailed by the nation’s Foreign Ministry.
According to Trend News Agency, this development emerged during a visit by a delegation led by Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov to Pakistan, where they attended the meeting of the SCO Heads of Government Council. During this meeting, the Turkmen delegation underscored the importance of enhancing direct interaction with the business communities of SCO member countries.
The discussions also covered the advancement of transport infrastructure, particularly focusing on the North-South transport corridor project. This project is crucial as it connects Turkmenistan with Iran and India along the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, facilitating better trade connectivity.
Additionally, the Turkmen side expressed optimism about the future, noting that stronger trade connections and collaborative projects are likely to be mutually a
dvantageous for all involved parties. It is important to highlight that Turkmenistan plays an active role in the development of the North-South transport corridor.
In a significant move in July 2024, Turkmenistan, along with Russia, Kazakhstan, and Iran, signed a roadmap to enhance the eastern branch of the North-South corridor. This initiative is set to increase the capacity of the corridor to 15 million tons per year by 2027, and to 20 million tons by 2030. The corridor’s design seeks to offer efficient multimodal transport routes that connect the Indian Ocean with the Caspian and Baltic Seas, thereby considerably reducing the transit costs and time compared to traditional routes.