On 12 May the meeting between Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov, his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani was held.
The Iranian news agency MEHR reported that in the course of the meeting Zarif said that there is no obstacle on the way of development of Iranian-Turkmen relations.
According to President Rouhani, Iran is ready to implement road construction projects and export technical and engineering services to Turkmenistan. Moreover, the Iranian President showed interest in signing transportation and trade contracts as well as swap gas deals and electricity transit.
In late March 2018, during Hassan Rouhani’s official visit to Ashgabat, he told President Berdymukhammedov that Iranian businesses were ready to participate in joint road construction projects.
Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister, in his turn, expressed willingness to seek long-term contracts with Iran in various fields of mutual interest.
Wrapping up the meeting Rouhani invited President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to Iran.
Iran had previously used swap deals to pay for the Turkmen gas by providing merchandise and services, including motorway construction.
In late April Hamid Reza Araqi, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), expressed doubts in the successful completion of the TAPI construction project and proposed Turkmenistan swap deals to supply Turkmen gas to Pakistan.
In late 2016 a public row broke out between Iran and Turkmenistan after Turkmengaz demanded that the NIGC settle the debt of $1,8 billion.
The Iran media outlets reported that after lengthy negotiations the sides had come to mutual agreement.Despite this, on 1 January 2017 Turkmenistan cut off gas supply to Iran.