The Parliament of Turkmenistan has ratified a memorandum of mutual understanding with Iran on cooperation in merchant shipping in the Caspian Sea.
According to the Turkmen government, the memorandum was signed in Nov 2015 as a result of the visit of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to Iran, with trade, oil/gas and transport mentioned as priorities of Turkmen-Iranian cooperation.
According to Turkmenistan, in Jan-Sept 2015 its trade with Iran exceeded $2.62bn or 2.2% more than in Jan-Sept 2014. During the Iranian president’s visit to Turkmenistan in Mar 2015, the sides agreed to enlarge the trade turnover to $60bn in the following decade. So, the memorandum is one of the steps towards this goal.