Turkmenistan is ready to take practical steps to create a logistics center in the Astrakhan region, Consul General of Turkmenistan Guych Garayev said today at a meeting with Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Astrakhan Region - head of the region's Ministry of Economy Kazbek Hadikov. This is reported by the portal “Astrakhan listok”.

The Consul General told the participants in the conversation that the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on December 11, 2020, at an expanded meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant state bodies to complete the solution of organizational and other issues and begin the working stage of cooperation on the creation of a logistics center in the Astrakhan region.

“We are ready to organize a working visit to the Astrakhan region of specialists who will deal with practical issues related to the establishment of the center,” Gyuch Garayev said.

Kazbek Hadikov, in turn, expressed interest in the implementation of an important international project and readiness to provide all kinds of assistance to Turkmenistan.

During the conversation, it was noted that it would be quite logical to locate the center on the territory of the Port Special Economic Zone, which is being created in the Astrakhan region, where preferences are provided for investors and residents, including foreign ones.

As noted, the implementation of the project will contribute to the formation of additional traffic through the ITC “North-South”. In addition, a logistics center can become not only a wholesale and transshipment base for Turkmen goods, but also a place for locating production of its own products.

As a result of the meeting, an agreement was reached to provide the consulate of Turkmenistan with the necessary information on the conditions and procedure for creating a center in the Astrakhan region, as well as to organize a meeting with the general director of the management company of the special economic zone “Lotos”.

The feasibility of opening a logistics center of Turkmenistan in Astrakhan was discussed in May last year during an online meeting of Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov with Governor of the Astrakhan Region of the Russian Federation Igor Babushkin.

This topic was also raised in November last year at an online meeting of the co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Russian Commission on Economic Cooperation.