TEHRAN Nov. 07 (Shana) � Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said Iran and neighboring Turkmenistan are resolved to boost their ties to the targeted US$60 billion in mutual trade in a ten-year period.

Speaking at a meeting with Ahmed Gorbanov, Turkmenistan�s ambassador to Tehran, Zangeneh said the value of trade between Tehran and Ashgabat has soared from $90 million in 1991 to $4 billion in 2014, which must be appreciated.

Also in the meeting, Gorbanov said that implementation of the Tehran-Ashgabat agreements would be to the benefit of all regional countries.

He underlined the launching of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway project as an outstanding example of cooperation between Tehran and Ashgabat.

The railway, which came on-stream last December, is part of the North-South international transport corridor, which joins the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea through Iran and then continues to St. Petersburg and northern Europe via Russia.

By SHANA