Official website of the President of Russia

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much, Mr Berdimuhamedov. Thank you again for your invitation.

You have already noted that we are meeting in the year marking the 25^th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. A lot has happened in our countries in that time.

Our intergovernmental relations are progressing rapidly in all the areas. We are pleased to note that Russia is among Turkmenistan’s leading trade and economic partners. Inter-parliamentary relations are developing. And we certainly place significant emphasis on economic cooperation.

As I have mentioned, trade between our countries, unfortunately, somewhat decreased last year for various reasons, primarily ones beyond our control, I think. I mean fluctuations in exchange rates, an unfavourable global economic situation and some other factors. But we have the capacity to overcome this trend, and I hope this will happen shortly.

We have established a whole system of cooperation mechanisms in different areas, with the key role played by the Intergovernmental Commission.

The programme of economic cooperation for 2017–2018 is designed to improve economic cooperation. It was adopted in February and comprises 80 different measures and projects. Implementation of this document will help expand investment cooperation which, in my view, is also very important.

The Russian Export Centre is committed to assisting joint foreign economic programmes. Its affiliates, the Roseximbank and the Russian Agency for Export Credit, have provided $182 million in support for 16 projects.

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