Iran seeks to increase trade relations with neighboring countries. In a visit by a trade delegation from Turkmenistan, headed by the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the natural gas swap between Iran and Turkmenistan was confirmed. Iran quotes Raşit Meredow, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and writes that the trade between the two countries is valued at 1.1 billion dollars and there is much capacity for growth. In this visit, negotiations were carried out to connect the Ashgabat Treaty, which creates the Kazakhstan to Turkmenistan corridor, to the Iran – China corridor. Mr. Akhundi, the Iranian Minister of Roads has said that once activated, this corridor connects Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, China, Oman and Iran. The Turkmenistan Minister of Foreign affairs also expressed interest for Iranian engineering firms to construct freeways in his country.
