Poland, Turkmenistan sign economic cooperation agreement

We are opening up a new chapter in the development of Poland-Turkmenistan relations, Polish deputy PM and Economy Minister Janusz Piechocinski said in Ashgabat on Tuesday during the signing of an economic cooperation agreement between the two countries.

PAP © 2015 / Paweł Supernak / Warszawa, 09.03.2015. Wicepremier, minister gospodarki Janusz Piechociński, podczas VII Forum Gospodarczego Time, 9 bm. w Warszawie. Celem forum jest prezentacja projektu Programu Rozwoju Cyfrowego Infrastruktury i Przemysłu, który stanowi podsumowanie prac programowych Krajowej Izby Gospodarczej Elektroniki i Telekomunikacji. (zuz) PAP/Paweł Supernak PAP © 2015 / Paweł Supernak

On behalf of Turkmenistan the agreement was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Annamukhammet Gochyev, the Economy Ministry reported.

According to Piechocinski, this is the first agreement signed by Poland and Turkmenistan after the accord on diplomatic relations signed in 1992.

"The document signed today creates foundations for a Polish-Turkmen intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation. Its decisions will help prepare new economic projects serving bilateral economic cooperation and liquidate barriers hampering trade and investment collaboration between Poland and Turkmenistan," the Polish deputy PM and economy minister was quoted as saying.

According to Slawomir Majman, the president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), Turkmenistan is developing its infrastructure and has huge needs regarding housing construction and food processing. "This is a chance for Polish business to enter a new market," he said, adding that Belarusian, Ukrainian, German and French firms were already present in Turkmenistan. "This is a chance also for Poland," he stressed.

Majman added that food processing, the furniture sector and environment protection know-how were also an opportunity for Poland.

Turkmenistan is a faraway country but it lies on the so-called new silk route starting in China and going through Central Asia to Europe, Majman remarked. "We want this route to end in Gdansk and Lodz in Poland," he stressed, adding that Turkmenistan was very important for Poland also because it attracted major Chinese investments.

Majman added that the current mission to Ashgabat was the third organised recently to post-Soviet countries in Asia. "We have visited Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan. And this is not the end," he went on. (PAP)

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