TEHRAN – Iran and Turkmenistan discussed ways to enhance bilateral economic ties, especially in energy and transport sectors.

In a meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkmen Vice-President Khajeh Mohammadov in Tehran, Rouhani announced Iran’s readiness to speed up the implementation of road building, technical and engineering, as well as energy projects, the IRIB reported on Monday.

The Turkmen official, for his part, referred to 19 agreements which have been already signed by the two sides to boost economic cooperation, saying that he has held fruitful meetings with the Iranian ministers of oil, transport, housing, as well as the governor of the Central Bank of Iran during his visit to Iran.

In Feb. 2014, Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Mohammad-Reza Ne’matzadeh said Iran and Turkmenistan have the capacity to double their trade exchanges.

In a meeting with the visiting Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in Tehran, Nematzadeh said the two countries can raise the current $5-billion trade transaction to $10 billion.

The Islamic Republic exports machinery, construction materials, sedans, buses, food stuff, agricultural and petrochemical products, electrical products and home appliances to Turkmenistan, and imports natural gas, electricity, textiles and agricultural products from its northern neighbor.