Vice President Yilmaz: We plan to deliver Turkmen gas to Turkey as of March 1

Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz met with Turkmenistan Council of Ministers Vice Chairman Nökergulı Ataguliyev at the Presidential Complex within the scope of the Intergovernmental Commission Meeting (ICC). Following the closed-door meeting, the ICC Protocol Signing Ceremony was held. Following the ceremony, Yılmaz and Ataguliyev held a joint press conference. Speaking here, Yılmaz recalled that they held the ICC 7th Term Meeting in Ashgabat last year and stated that they signed the 87-article ICC 8th Term Protocol today.

'WE NEED TO WORK CLOSER'

Regarding the prominent items within the scope of the protocol, Yılmaz said, "There are many actions such as organizing the 12th Turkish Export Products Fair hosted by Turkmenistan and the Turkmen Products Fair hosted by our country in 2025, developing cooperation in the field of energy and ensuring that Turkmen gas is transported to the world, especially to Europe, developing the 'International Trans-Caspian East-West Corridor' leg of the Middle Corridor, establishing the Joint Customs Committee and the Simplified Customs Corridor, modernizing the existing Agreement on the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments (YKTK), strengthening contacts between the business worlds, developing our cooperation in the field of health, conducting joint studies in the field of agricultural research personnel training, signing an implementation protocol and cooperation agreement between TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey ) and the Turkmenistan Academy of Sciences, developing cooperation in the fields of SMEs and entrepreneurship. "The fact that there are many items carried over from previous periods in this Action Plan prepared for the new period shows us that we need to work more closely," he said.

'OUR TRADE SHOWS A BALANCED APPEARANCE'

Stating that the trade volume between Turkey and Turkmenistan reached 2.2 billion dollars in 2024, Yilmaz said, "Our trade displays a balanced appearance. In this context, we are proud to be in 2nd place in both Turkmenistan's exports and imports. Of course, we also want to be in 1st place. We have a trade volume target of 5 billion dollars, as determined by our Presidents. We have not even reached half of this target yet. I would like to state here that we will reach our trade target of 5 billion dollars in the shortest time possible and that we will reach much higher figures in the future. In order to achieve this goal, we will continue to bring our business worlds together, especially with events such as the Turkmenistan Turkish Export Products Fair and the Turkmen Export Products Fair. Our mutual investments with Turkmenistan have exceeded 200 million dollars. This is of course insufficient, I would like to state again that mutual investments will increase much more rapidly, especially with the update of the Agreement on the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments."

'DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIDDLE CORRIDOR IS EXTREMELY CRITICAL'

Expressing that they have achieved a very important development in the field of energy, Yilmaz said, "With the agreement signed between BOTAS and Turkmengaz, we plan to have Turkmen gas reach Turkey as of March 1, 2025. In the first stage, we are talking about 1.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas that will come via swap method. We see this as a start. We believe that this will reach much higher figures in the advanced stages and Turkmen gas and electricity will reach world markets, especially in Europe, through Turkey. In addition, our work continues for state companies such as TPAO (Turkish Petroleum Corporation) and BOTAS to take part in infrastructure investments aimed at developing hydrocarbon fields in Turkmenistan and transporting these resources to the west of Turkmenistan. In the field of transportation , the development of the Middle Corridor is extremely critical. In this context, increasing the capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and opening the Zangezur connection will make the Middle Corridor more attractive." Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Nökerguli Ataguliyev stated that relations and cooperation have developed with the mutual initiatives of the leaders of the two countries and that they have exchanged ideas to work in different areas. Ataguliyev said that cooperation will be developed in the fields of transportation, logistics, urbanization, construction, water resources, sports and energy. (DHA)