Events

ASHGABAT, 29 March (BelTA) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has arrived in Turkmenistan on an official visit. The aircraft with the Belarusian head of state on board has landed in Ashgabat International Airport, BelTA has learned.

Alexander Lukashenko was welcomed by Rashid Meredov, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. The official welcome ceremony for the Belarusian head of state involved guards of honor.

BelTA reported earlier that on 30 March, Alexander Lukashenko will meet one-on-one and in a wider format with Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. The parties will discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest. A number of bilateral documents will be signed after the talks.

The two leaders will also take part in the opening ceremony of the Belarusian embassy in Turkmenistan.

On 31 March, Alexander Lukashenko and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow will visit the Garlyk mining and processing factory the construction of which has been recently finished by the Belarusian side. The heads of state will inaugurate the plant and tour the production facilities.

The diplomatic relations between Belarus and Turkmenistan were established on 21 January 1993. The bilateral cooperation is of a strategic nature.

Alexander Lukashenko visited Turkmenistan in 2002, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow paid visits to Belarus in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016.

In 2016, the trade between Belarus and Turkmenistan totaled $120.6 million (up by 28.9% from 2015). Belarus’ exports amounted to some $113 million. The country’s major exports to Turkmenistan were earthwork equipment, panelboards for electric equipment, freight cars, insulated wire, tractors and tractor units, elevators, ferrous metal structures, pharmaceutical products, ethanol, special-purpose vehicles, prefabricated building structures, electric transformers, cheese and cottage cheese.

The turnkey project to build Garlyk mining and processing factory for the extraction and processing of potassium salts is the largest joint project of Belarus and Turkmenistan. The contract for the implementation of the project was signed between the Belarusian company Belgorkhimprom and Turkmenistan’s company Turkmenkhimiya in 2010. The factory is designed to produce 1.4 million tonnes of potassium chloride per year developing the Garlyk deposit of potassium salts in Turkmenistan’s Lebap region.

The Garlyk deposit is one of the largest deposits of potassium salts on the territory of Turkmenistan. All the deposits are located in the country’s south-east. They are estimated to hold as much as 2.8 billion tonnes of potash ore.