As part of the 84th international meeting of the Council for Railway Transport of the CIS member states, Sergey Pavlov, First Deputy Director General of Russian Railways (RZD), spoke about plans to deepen cooperation with Turkmenistan. In the future, the partnership will extend beyond logistics to include high technology, education, and the development of unique tourist routes.
The key area of cooperation remains the development of the eastern branch of the international North–South transport corridor. According to Sergey Pavlov, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran are working on a constructive four-party agreement.
“This agreement will make it possible to regulate cargo delivery times and optimize the operation of border crossings. We hope to move to a new stage that will connect our railway companies even more closely,” the RZD executive emphasized.
In addition to logistics, Russian Railways and the Ministry of Railway Transport of Turkmenistan are developing cooperation in several other strategic areas. These include the introduction of modern IT solutions in transportation management, personnel training, delegation exchanges and joint educational programs, the development of youth policy, and humanitarian cooperation.
S. Pavlov noted that the Russian side is ready to “accelerate” in order to implement the planned initiatives as efficiently as possible.
Special attention was also given to tourism. The representative of Russian Railways highly praised the way Turkmenistan combines careful preservation of its history with the construction of modern infrastructure.
“When I show photographs of Ashgabat in Moscow, people are amazed and ask, ‘Where is this?’ The white-marble city is simply a wonder. In Russia, interest in such routes is very high. RZD is confident that the combination of Turkmenistan’s sacred history — a land that has for centuries stood at the crossroads of world routes — and the country’s modern appearance represents enormous tourism potential that we can successfully develop together,” S. Pavlov shared.
