Turkmenistan eyes transiting electricity to Turkey via Iran

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16 By Rahim Zamanov - Trend: Ashgabat has officially requested to transit 800 million kilowatt hour of its surplus electricity to Ankara via Iranian territory, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported. Iran has not responded to the request yet. The issue was discussed at a meeting between Turkmen Foreign Minister Reshid Meredov during his visit and Iran's Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian. "Turkmenistan has already signed the electricity exports deal with a Turkish company," Meredov said. He further expressed hope that Iran agrees to the request. Turkmenistan exported over 1.5 billion kilowatt hour of electricity to Iran in 2013, Meredov added. By investing $5 billion, Turkmenistan eyes to become an electricity exporting hub in the region by 2020. During his visit to Tehran, Meredov held several meeting with high-ranking Iranian official including President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif. Follow us on Twitter @TRENDNewsAgency