On July 2, Ambassador of Belarus to Turkmenistan Vyacheslav Beskostny gave an interview to the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper in honor of the Independence Day of his country, in which he spoke about cooperation with Turkmenistan.
According to the diplomat, in the 2021-2022 academic year, the number of Turkmen students in the universities of Belarus amounted to 6,600 people, which is more than 20% of the total number of foreign students. “Belarus is ready to annually provide Turkmenistan with 30 budgetary scholarships for the training of engineering and technical personnel,” he added.
At a briefing in February, Vyacheslav Beskostny said that more than 8,000 citizens of Turkmenistan study in Belarusian educational institutions. And in the summer of 2021, the National Statistical Committee of this country reported that students from Turkmenistan study at the universities of Belarus most of all. In 2020/21 academic years - 8.738 people.
Touching upon the topic of trade, the ambassador said that according to the National Statistical Committee of Belarus, in 2021 the trade turnover amounted to $20.8 million; Belarusian export - $13.7 million; import - $7.1 million. Turkmenistan exports textiles, cotton yarn and agricultural products.
“This year, in just 4 months, Turkmenistan supplied more than $1 million worth of tomatoes to Belarus . In turn, deliveries of certain groups of Belarusian food products and packaging materials to Turkmenistan demonstrate good dynamics ,” the diplomat said.
According to him, Belarus expects to increase the volume of trade with Turkmenistan, as the country "remains high demand for seasonal vegetables and fruits." The area of mechanical engineering is also promising. The diplomat stressed that the planned assembly production together with the Minsk Tractor Plant will provide an opportunity to create a modern industrial cluster and new jobs. In addition, this project is important in terms of the transfer of new modern technologies.
“Similar joint clusters are also possible in other priority sectors of the economy of Turkmenistan,” said Beskostny.
Vyacheslav Beskostny also expressed hope for the restoration of regular flights between Ashgabat and Minsk in the near future . “Belarusian aviation authorities and the national airline Belavia are ready for this step,” he stressed.
The diplomat recalled that in January 2023, the countries will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and in total over 100 agreements have been signed over the years of cooperation.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan