Another significant step in establishing fruitful cooperation between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Tatarstan of the Russian Federation was the Turkmen-Tatarstan business forum held today in the conference hall of the “Yyldyz” Hotel in the capital.

At the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on March 10, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, having heard information from the relevant leaders on the preparations for the business forum, specified that our country attaches great importance to strengthening traditional cooperation with the Russian Federation and its subjects, including the Republic of Tatarstan.

In this context, the head of state stressed that productive trade and economic cooperation, the implementation of large-scale reform programs and infrastructure projects are also indicators of a high level of partnership.

A delegation composed of heads and representatives of state institutions and companies of Tatarstan specializing in various areas of economic activity arrived in Ashgabat to participate in the current meeting.

For the Turkmen part, representatives of a number of sectoral ministries and departments, as well as members of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs took participation in the business forum.

The meeting agenda included a discussion of promising areas of mutually beneficial partnership between sectoral departments and business communities of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Tatarstan in the context of the existing large trade, economic and investment potential, in particular, in the fields of industry, energy, agriculture and transport.

The participants, expressing gratitude to President Serdar Berdimuhamedov for paying great attention to strengthening productive contacts with the largest regions of the Russian Federation, emphasized Tatarstan’s intention to expand business relations and readiness to provide every possible assistance in further development thereof.

In this context, emphasis was placed on the positive experience of joint activity of the business communities of Tatarstan and Turkmenistan, the successful operation of the Joint Turkmen-Tatarstan Working Group for trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation. Participation in carrying out joint projects by leading companies such as “KAMAZ”, “Tatneft”, “KER-Holding”, and machine-building enterprises was highlighted among the bright examples of fruitful partnership.

In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan O. Korobchenko stressed that “Eidos-Medicine”, one of the world’s largest healthcare companies producing robot patients operates in America, Japan and Tatarstan, which also cooperates with the higher education institutions of Turkmenistan and supplies its products. Recently, a relevant agreement was signed with the International Educational and Scientific Center of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan.

At the same time, the forum emphasized the importance of making the full use of available, including in the field of expanding bilateral trade. There is great potential for developing cooperation in such areas as automotive, aircraft and shipbuilding, energy, chemicals supplies, pharmaceuticals and medicine, agro-industrial complex, etc.

Representatives of the Turkmen party specified that the construction industry has a special role to play in the development of bilateral relations at the present stage. Energy, agriculture, transport, mechanical engineering were outlined among the promising areas of cooperation.

Another significant area of joint activity is the agro-industrial complex. The programs being implemented in our country in this field provide for creating the appropriate production infrastructure, ensuring food abundance, saturating the consumer market with a variety of high-quality domestic foodstuffs. At the same time, great attention is paid to the comprehensive fulfillment of the potential available in the private sector.

Thanks to the initiatives of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov to provide all-round support to small and medium-sized businesses, special conditions have been created in this area for development, which was defined as one of the priorities of the state policy. Today, optimal opportunities are provided in Turkmenistan to encourage entrepreneurship, the amount of lending has been increased, and a favorable tax policy is implemented.

The speeches of the guests indicated the interest of business community of Tatarstan in stepping up partnership with Turkmenistan, which today demonstrates the rapid pace of economic development. Declaring their readiness to take an active participation in the implementation of large-scale national projects, the business people made specific proposals on further expanding mutually beneficial cooperation.

Bilateral meetings were also held as part of the business forum between representatives of ministries, departments, private entities and business people of Turkmenistan and Tatarstan, during which the prospects were discussed and plans for further cooperation were outlined.

In particular, during the meetings, a cooperation agreement was signed between the supermarket chain of Turkmenistan “Halk market” and “Natural Health” LLC.

Expressing confidence that the partnership between the two countries will continue to grow and develop, the business forum participants once again emphasized the dynamic nature of Turkmen-Tatarstan relations based on the principles of trust and mutual benefit.