India, Turkmenistan sign 4 MoUs for cooperation; agree to expand bilateral trade

India and Turkmenistan signed 4 agreements, together with in monetary intelligence and catastrophe administration, as President Ram Nath Kovind met his Turkmen counterpart Serdar Berdimuhamedov right here on Saturday and agreed to develop bilateral commerce and vitality cooperation to additional strengthen the multifaceted partnership.

That is the first-ever go to of the President of India to unbiased Turkmenistan and comes simply after the inauguration of recent Turkmen President Berdimuhamedov.

Throughout his assembly at the moment with the President of Turkmenistan Berdimuhamedov, President Kovind held an in depth dialogue on the state and prospects of bilateral relations and likewise exchanged views on numerous regional and worldwide problems with significance.

“We now have agreed to accentuate efforts to additional strengthen our multifaceted partnership. Financial relations strengthen bilateral ties. We agreed to do extra to develop bilateral commerce which has remained modest. Our enterprise communities should deepen their engagement, perceive one another’s laws and establish new areas of commerce and funding,” the president mentioned in an announcement issued by the Ministry of Exterior Affairs.

The 2 leaders highlighted the importance of the Worldwide North South Transport Hall (INSTC) and the Ashgabat Settlement on Worldwide Transport and Transit Hall.

President Kovind identified that the Chabahar port constructed by India in Iran might be used to enhance commerce between India and Central Asia.

“Cooperation in vitality was one of many key areas of our discussions at the moment. On the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, I instructed that points associated to the safety of the pipeline and key enterprise rules could also be addressed in Technical and Professional stage conferences,” the president mentioned.

Requested if the problem of the TAPI pipeline might come up throughout talks, Sanjay Verma, Secretary West within the MEA, informed reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday that “it’s a troublesome neighbourhood should you have a look at the geography. So, in that sense, this itself was a job in negotiating the pipeline.” “Thereafter it’s on document that India has some issues concerning the industrial and enterprise side of the TAPI pipeline and that’s being mentioned,” he mentioned, including that the president’s go to can be one other alternative to “revisit the place we stand” on this concern.

Throughout the talks between President Kovind and his Turkmenistan counterpart, the 2 international locations additionally recognized new areas of cooperation comparable to catastrophe administration. Mr Kovind expressed India’s readiness to associate with Turkmenistan in its drive in the direction of digitalisation and famous that Area may be one other space of mutually helpful cooperation.

“Our international locations share centuries-old civilisational and cultural linkages. Throughout the talks, I underlined the significance of holding common cultural occasions in one another’s territory. We emphasised on the necessity for each international locations to cooperate carefully on the efficient administration of the COVID-19 pandemic that has affected our inhabitants,” the president mentioned.

Turkmenistan is a crucial associate for India within the India–Central Asia Summit framework, the primary of which India hosted nearly in January this 12 months.

“We agreed to additional improve cooperation below the framework flowing from the India-Central Asia Summit,” he mentioned.

President Kovind additionally thanked Turkmenistan for its help to India’s everlasting membership in a reformed and expanded UN Safety Council in addition to for India’s initiatives as a non-permanent member of UNSC for the interval of 2021-22.

Earlier, the Ministry of Exterior Affairs mentioned India connected significance to its relations with Turkmenistan.

“The state go to of the president will reaffirm the significance we connect to Turkmenistan, not solely bilaterally but additionally by way of our prolonged neighbourhood idea and function in India-Central Asia partnership,” Mr Verma informed reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Turkmenistan possesses very giant reserves of pure fuel.

“Turkmenistan can be strategically positioned in Central Asia and connectivity is one thing on which we really feel a partnership with Turkmenistan can pay dividends. We now have provided a line of credit score price $ 1 billion to Central Asian international locations, together with Turkmenistan,” Mr Verma mentioned.

President Kovind’s journey to Turkmenistan can be adopted by a state go to to the Netherlands from April 4-7 on the invitation of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima.