Turkmenistan and Russia agree to jointly develop transport infrastructure

Turkmenistan and Russia have agreed to launch a direct rail and ferry link through the ports of Astrakhan water-transportation hub, Mahachkala and the Turkmen port of Turkmenbashi. An agreement to this effect was signed by Turkmen deputy prime minister Nazarguly Shaguliyev and Russian transport minister Igor Letvin in Kremlin on 25 March. Both Turkmen and Russian presidents attended the signing ceremony, turkmenistan.ru reports.
The agreement regulates cargo shipments, coordination of rail and ferry carriers, procedures of daily management and use of the international rail and ferry crossing between Russia and Turkmenistan.
"I hope this crossing will become a major element of the North-South transport corridor which is of paramount importance for the development of our countries," Dmitriy Medvedev said after the signing ceremony.
According to Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the Turkmen side proposed that Russian Railways joint-stock company should become a general contractor of one of the stretches of Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway.
A regular air flight between Ashgabat and St Petersburg will be also launched in the course of the Turkmen President's visit to the Russian Federation, the Turkmenistan.ru correspondent reports from Moscow.