Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov will pay a two-day visit to Russia today, RIA Novosti reports.
The president will attend the CIS summit in Moscow and visit Tatarstan.
Experts say that Turkmenistan expects improvement of trade-economic cooperation after the meeting of Berdimuhamedov and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Fuel and energy issues are traditionally one of the main topics. Turkmenistan expects Russia to increase purchases of its gas.
Russia used to buy up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan before the global economic recession started. The purchases have dropped to 10 billion cubic meters. Gas industry is the basic economic sphere of Turkmenistan and the main source of foreign currency.
Berdimuhamedov will meet Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov on Wednesday. Turkmenistan is one of the main purchasers of KAMAZ vehicles produced in Tatarstan.
Turkmenistan is also an active player at CIS affairs, becoming the chairing state of the Commonwealth of Independent States this year. Turkmenistan plans to activate cooperation. Ashkhabad plans a session of the Council of CIS heads of governments and a session of the CIS Electricity and Energy Council.
