As part of his official visit to Turkmenistan, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, accompanied by his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, left Ashgabat for the city of Turkmenbashi.

The Presidents of Armenia and Turkmenistan praised the warm relations between their countries and reaffirmed their intention to deepen during talks held in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat yesterday.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan have claimed “mutual understanding on a wide range of issues” in a joint statement issued at the conclusion of the negotiations.

The two leaders have pointed to the need to increase the volume and still modest bilateral trade, which has shrunk by over 22% to $ 22.7 million last year. They said in this regard that the Armenian-Turkmen intergovernmental commission on bilateral cooperation should intensify activities to achieve “tangible results in the field of trade relations. ”

Sarkisian and Berdimuhamedov also agreed to set up trade offices in the capital of another. They presided over the signing of an agreement with Armenia and the main business associations of Turkmenistan. The economic focus of their talks was underlined by holding a business forum Armenian-Turkmen to coincide with the official visit Sarkisian in the Central Asian state.

“I am pleased that relations between Turkmenistan and Armenia dynamically developing,” Sarkisian said during a joint press conference held in the luxurious presidential palace Berdimuhamedov.

“We discussed in detail the issues of trade and economic cooperation,” he said. “Unfortunately, trade between our two countries declined last year. But we have experience in cooperation and, more importantly, the potential in the fields of energy, light, textile industry and agriculture. ”

Sarkisian said that he and Berdimuhamedov discussed ways of “development of energy projects,” without elaborating.

The hydrocarbon wealth of Turkmenistan has been the main supplier of natural gas to Armenia in the 1990s, until the Armenian government signed a long term contract with the Russian monopoly Gazprom.

During a visit to Yerevan end of 2012, Berdimuhamedov listed oil, gas and electricity from the concrete areas of economic cooperation were discussed at “very good and constructive” talks with Sarkisian. Turkmen autocratic leader also congratulated Armenia at the time to support the country in the international arena.

Sargsyan, for his part, thanked Turkmenistan yesterday to maintain “neutrality” on the Nagorno-Karabakh and “understanding” for the position of Armenia on its resolution.

The report of Turkmenistan with Armenia was very cordial in Berdimuhamedov and his late predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov. The latter visited Yerevan in 1996 and received a Mesrop Mashtots order, one of the highest in the State Prize of Armenia, four years later.

Berdimuhamedov was quoted by the official news agency of Turkmenistan as having noted that “traditionally friendly character of the Armenian-Turkmen relations” advanced compared to the last visit Sarkisian in his country. He described the trip as “another important step towards the strengthening and deepening of a successful long-term partnership” between the two former Soviet states.