Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus in Ashgabat Vyacheslav Beskosty told about the current state and prospects of development of Turkmen-Belarusian cooperation in an interview with the newspaper “Neutral Turkmenistan”. The interview was timed to the celebration of the Independence Day of the Republic.
In January 2023 Turkmenistan and Belarus will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
During this period, according to the diplomat, the two countries have established a solid legal framework for cooperation, which exceeds 100 agreements.
“Mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation has been and remains a priority area of bilateral cooperation,” the Ambassador noted.
Thus, according to the Belarusian statistical committee, in 2021 the trade turnover with Turkmenistan amounted to US$ 20.8 million, including Belarusian exports of US $ 13.7 million and imports of US $ 7.1 million. Turkmenistan exports textiles, cotton yarn, agricultural products to Belarus.
According to the Ambassador, Turkmenistan has delivered more than US $ 1 million worth of tomatoes to Belarus in January-April this year.
Assessing the potential for expansion of relations, Ambassador Beskosty noted the existence of prerequisites for stepping up the export-import operations.
“The Belarusian market is open to imported goods today more than ever before. In this regard, we expect, among other things, to increase the trade with Turkmenistan. For example, the demand for seasonal vegetables and fruits remains high in our country,” he said.
Another promising direction is industrial cooperation, for example, in the field of mechanical engineering. “The organization of assembly shops together with the Minsk Tractor Plant will not only create a new modern industrial cluster, new jobs, but it is also important in terms of the technologies transfer,” he explained.
Cooperation in the field of education is successfully developing. In the 2021-2022 academic year, the number of Turkmen students in Belarusian universities exceeded 6,600, that is more than 20% of the total number of foreign students.
According to the envoy, Belarus is ready to annually grant Turkmenistan 30 budget scholarships for the training of engineering and technical personnel.
The ambassador also spoke about upcoming bilateral meetings. In particular, it is planned to conduct the next round of inter-ministerial consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers and the session of the joint Belarusian-Turkmen commission on economic cooperation.
The diplomat expressed hope for recovery of air traffic between Minsk and Ashgabat. ///nCa, 3 July 2022