Iran’s foreign minister says preparations are underway for President Ebrahim Raeisi’s visit Turkmentian and that the two neighbors will witness a “serious jump” in trade in the coming weeks.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met top Turkmen officials in Ashgabat Thursday, including chairman of the People’s Council of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, President Sardar Berdimohamedov and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov.
“In these meetings, we exchanged views on the dimensions of bilateral relations and regional and international developments,” the Iranian foreign minister said.
“We had forward and fruitful discussions on issues related to energy, transit, as well as water tensions in the region and the need for stronger cooperation between Tehran and Ashgabat in preserving the water resources available in the two countries.”
Amir-Abdollahian said the two countries have already been cooperating in the field of electricity and gas, which they will strengthen further.
There are also a small number of prisoners in the two countries, which they agreed to take steps to extradite and exchange them, he added.
The minister touched on consultations held regarding the issue of water rights of Turkmenistan from Friendship Dam on their joint border, which is affected by the upstream programs of Afghanistan.
He said a joint committee will work to ensure that upstream programs do not affect the water rights of Iran and Turkmenistan.
The Iran–Turkmenistan Friendship Dam is a water reservoir built on the Hariroud River, which forms part of the international boundary between the two neighbors.
The dam was completed in 2004, and both countries agreed that each would have an equal right to the waters of the river. The dam provides drinking water and irrigation for the surrounding areas.
Hariroud flows into Iran from Herat in Afghanistan, before turning north and disappearing in Turkmenistan’s Karakum desert.
The river is prone to severe seasonal droughts with dire consequences. The last time the 1,000-km river completely dried up, in 2000, the second-largest Iranian city of Mashhad suffered severe water shortages.
The Salma Dam, an India-sponsored project on the Hariroud which began operating in 2015, has reduced the annual water flow to Iran by 71%, according to a 2014 study commissioned by the United Nations Environment Program.
Afghanistan is home to five river basins that also sustain large populations in Iran, Pakistan and Central Asia, but the country lacks water-sharing agreements with its neighbors.
The sole exception is a 1973 agreement over the Helmand river, which flows westwards from Afghanistan into Sistan and Baluchistan in Iran.
Iran has already complained that Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities do not comply with the water-sharing treaty which is an internationally binding accord.
