The speech of Igor Babushkin, the governor of the Astrakhan region, at the recently concluded 15th International Economic Forum "Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum," noted the importance of creating a logistics complex of Turkmenistan in Astrakhan’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ) "Lotus" in the context of developing international ties for this Russian region.

"A very important project is the creation of a trade and logistics company with our partners from Turkmenistan, which will be located on the territory of the port special economic zone. This is of great importance, including for the transit of goods using our port facilities," Russian media quote Igor Babushkin.

The logistics center will provide for warehousing, storage of goods, preparation for their transportation and sale, as well as exchange and wholesale trade of products. Thanks to the creation of its own trade and logistics center in the Astrakhan PSEZ, Turkmenistan can become a transport hub for transshipment of goods from Russia to the countries of Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The logistics center of Turkmenistan, which is planned to be built within two years, will serve as an example for other partners of the Astrakhan region.

A Memorandum of Intent for the implementation of the investment project to create a logistics center of Turkmenistan in the port special economic zone of the Astrakhan region between SEZ "Lotus" JSC and "Transport and Logistics Center of Turkmenistan" OJSC was signed in January 2023 in Ashgabat within the framework of the Turkmen-Russian business forum.