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Turkmenistan may increase the volume of natural gas transit to other countries via Iran to expand its energy exports, Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov said in Tehran on Monday.

Meredov said that Ashgabat plans to attract Iranian investors to its petrochemical projects. According to him, this idea could lead to more efficient use of Turkmenistan's gas resources.

The statement was made during the 18th meeting of the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Iranian Commission on Economic Cooperation, during which officials from the two countries considered ways to strengthen partnership in trade, energy and transport, Press TV reports.

In recent years, Iran has signed several gas swap deals with Turkmenistan to supply Azerbaijan and Iraq with the equivalent of the natural gas imported from that country, Iran's international television news network reminds. The swap deals expand Iran's ability to increase natural gas supplies to the national grid in the northeast of the country, where the country's main population centers and industrial centers are located.

Iran also imports about 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from Turkmenistan each year to meet growing demand for electricity in the northeast.

In early March, an agreement was announced between BOTAŞ and Turkmengaz to supply Turkmen gas to Turkey via Iran.

ORIENT

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