An international conference of transport ministers of landlocked developing countries is planned to be held in Turkmenistan in March 2020, Eurasia Diary reports citing Trend News. 

The Turkmen Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and Communication together with the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations have been charged with holding of the event.

“Turkmenistan expressed readiness last year to conduct negotiations on all aspects of cooperation and the use of the Caspian Turkmenbashi port by landlocked regional countries,” Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said.

President Berdimuhamedov made the remark in May 2018 at the "Great Silk Road - to New Frontiers of Development" international forum in Avaza which was timed to the opening ceremony of a new international port in Turkmenbashi city.

Ashgabat considers the development of North-South and East-West large-scale transport corridors to be a priority in its policy. These projects concern the expansion of transport and communications among the Central Asian countries with further access to the markets of Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The volume of transit of goods through the sea harbor of Turkmenbashi city has recently grown. Ships transporting building materials from Iran are unloaded at the berths of the port while the Kazakh wheat is loaded into the Iranian cargo ship nearby.

The goods which are supplied for Afghanistan and in the opposite direction - to Azerbaijan and Turkey - are also handled in the port. The containers from Spain, intended for consignees in Uzbekistan are unloaded. The building materials, metal and wood from Turkey and Russia are dispatched.

Carbamide produced in the city of Garabogaz, polyethylene and polypropylene produced in the polymer plant in Kiyanly settlement and petroleum coke produced at the oil refining plant in Turkmenbashi city are supplied regularly from the sea port to Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and other countries.

The annual port capacity reaches 17-18 million tons. Together with the port operating earlier, this figure will reach 25-26 million tons.

The cost of the project implemented by Turkey’s Gap Inshaat company is worth more than $1.5 billion.

The international ferry and passenger port will be able to serve 300,000 passengers and 75,000 trailers per year. The container terminal has an average annual capacity of 400,000 TEU.