ABU DHABI, December 09, 23:41 /ITAR-TASS/. Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates will set up a business council to strengthen bilateral economic partnership and expand cooperation in education, science hydrometeorology under an agreement reached by the Turkmen and UAE presidents, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Turkmen president’s press service reported on Monday.
“Consistent development of bilateral relations will elevate the bilateral relations to a new level and will make it possible to strengthen economic and investment partnership and interaction for the benefit of the two countries,” Sheikh Khalifa said.
. The Turkmen president also called for expanding bilateral cooperation, especially in the economic, investment, tourist and cultural spheres. He noted that the two sides had an encouraging potential for building a constructive partnership.
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Sheikh Khalifa discussed investment projects between Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates, including a possibility of expanding cooperation in priority areas such as: the oil and gas sector, oil processing, the chemical industry and renewable energy.
“The economic cooperation between Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates develops at high pace,” Berdymukhamedov went on to say. He said that bilateral trade turnover in the first nine months of 2013 stood at 1 billion 209 million dollars, which is an increase of 17.5 percent upon last year levels. “The trade turnover will reach 1.5 billion dollars by yearend,” the Turkmen president emphasized.
"We discussed prospect for partnership. The agreements we reached today will give an impetus to bilateral relations in all spheres,” the UAE said in turn. He lauded the current economic reforms in Turkmenistan.
The two presidents signed a joint communiquй on the results of their talks. They also signed a package of documents, including a programme of cooperation between the two countries’ Foreign Ministries in 2014 as well as several memorandums of understanding between the Ministries of Education, scientific institutions, hydrometeorology services and the chambers of commerce and industry.
After the talks, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov visited a scientific town of Masdar where renewable sources of energy are being developed.
Berdymukhamedov is expected to visit Dubai on the second day of his visit to the United Arab Emirates. Dubai will be the World Expo venue in 2020. While meeting Sheikh Kalifa, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov congratulated his UAE counterpart on Dubai’s victory. He praised the socio-economic and cultural achievements of the UAE people thanks to which the United Arab Emirates had earned its prestigious status both at regional and international levels.
Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates established diplomatic relations in October 1995. Their inter-state cooperation is based on 28 documents signed at various levels. The two countries have opened embassies in each other’s capital cities and have established regular air flights from the Turkmen capital Ashgabad to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.