The volume of the Turkmen-Russian trade turnover is about 1 billion US dollars, the potential is much higher.  This was stated by Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin, speaking on Thursday at the Turkmen-Russian business forum, which is being held in Ashgabat on January 19-20, the Orient agency reports.

 “The volume of trade between our countries is now at the level of about a billion dollars.  Undoubtedly, the potential for economic cooperation is much higher,” Mikhail Mishustin said.

 Mishustin also noted that this is the first such large-scale business forum in the history of relations between Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation.  More than 300 representatives of business circles and organizations take part in the event from the Russian side.

 According to the prime minister, now is not only a time of great challenges, but also of new opportunities.  “Turkmenistan entrepreneurs with their high-quality and competitive products can occupy some of the niches that have been vacated due to the withdrawal of a number of foreign corporations from the Russian market,” Mishustin said.

 We can talk not only about increasing the flow of goods, but also about creating joint ventures, building modern industrial, energy, and transport facilities, the Prime Minister continued.

 The head of the Russian government also spoke about the prospects for cooperation in the regional integration format, in particular, about the study by Turkmenistan of the possibilities of cooperation in the Eurasian Economic Union.

 According to Mishustin, the involvement of Turkmenistan in the integration processes in the EAEU format will have a positive impact on the country's economy and will be useful for all the countries of the «five».