India, Turkmenistan sign 4 MoUs for cooperation, agree to expand bilateral trade

What is the News?

The Indian President is on a visit to Turkmenistan. This is the first-ever visit of the President of India to independent Turkmenistan.

What are the key highlights from the India-Turkmenistan meet?

Agreements: The two countries signed four agreements, including in financial intelligence and disaster management, and agreed to expand bilateral trade and energy cooperation to further strengthen the multifaceted partnership.

INSTC: President of Turkmenistan conveyed his readiness to join the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). He proposed that the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway line could be a linked corridor of the INSTC to streamline the movement of goods between Turkmenistan and India and beyond.

India proposed that the Chabahar port built by India in Iran could be used to improve trade between India and Central Asia.

TAPI Pipeline: India suggested that issues related to the security of the Turkmenistan -Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline may be addressed in Technical and Expert level meetings.

UNSC: India thanked Turkmenistan for its support to India’s permanent membership in a reformed and expanded UN Security Council as well as for India’s initiatives as a non-permanent member of UNSC for the period of 2021-22.

What is the importance of Turkmenistan for India?

​​Turkmenistan is an important partner for India in the India-Central Asia Summit framework, the first of which India hosted virtually in January 2022.

Turkmenistan possesses very large reserves of natural gas.

Turkmenistan is also strategically placed in Central Asia, and connectivity is something on which India feels a partnership with Turkmenistan will pay dividends. 

Source: This post is based on the article “India, Turkmenistan sign 4 MoUs for cooperation, agree to expand bilateral trade” published in Indian Express on 2nd April 2022.