India's Ambassador to Turkmenistan Dr Vidhu P Nair on Sunday highlighted the importance of synergy between India and Turkmenistan to cooperate in Afghanistan, especially in terms of security.
Speaking to ANI, Nair said, "India and Turkmenistan's common interest lies in Afghanistan, which is why synergy is important between the two nations."
He added that both President Kovind and his Turkmenistan counterpart Serdar Berdimuhamedov have agreed to cooperate in Afghanistan, especially in terms of security.
Speaking on the investments done by both the countries in Afghanistan, the Indian envoy said, "India has done a lot of investment in Afghanistan, around USD 3 bn. Turkmenistan has also done a lot of investments in Afghanistan, especially in infrastructure, like schools, hospitals, railways."
Speaking on the first Presidential visit by India to Turkmenistan, Nair said, "I've never seen a warm welcome of a President like this before which shows that Turkmenistan considers India important. India's culture is also very popular here. One can find many people here who'll greet with a 'Namaste' and sing 'Bollywood' songs."
"Hindi is also commonly spoken here. We are also connected in terms of trade, however, due to no border connectivity, the trade connection hasn't reached the desired position yet," he added.
Speaking on the natural gas reserves of Turkmenistan, the Indian envoy said that Turkmenistan is number four in the world in terms of gas reserves; however, being a landlocked country it does not have access to oceans for transport of gas.
"Our President focused on connectivity improvement, as our fast-paced economy needs energy and we don't want to depend on one source. We need to diversify and natural gas is important in this context. Thus, issues of gas price and delivery points are important to get resolved in technical meetings and Turkmenistan agreed with India on this," he stated.
Notably, President Ram Nath Kovind is on a state visit to Turkmenistan and Netherlands from April 1 to April 7. Following his Turkmenistan visit ending on April 3, President Kovind will visit the Netherlands from April 4-7.
( With inputs from ANI )
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