According to reports in Turkmen media, Gül called Berdimuhamedow to congratulate him on his birthday and for being the recipient of this year's award. Berdimuhamedow in turn congratulated Gül for achieving peaceful general elections and expressed his well wishes for the success of Turkey's 61st government.
During the call Gül and Berdimuhamedow also discussed the relationship between their two countries as well as regional and international matters. Both presidents emphasized they were pleased with the progress of Turkish-Turkmen collaboration and stated that they will continue to work hard to improve the cooperation between their two countries.
Gül and Berdimuhamedow agreed that economic and mercantile relations between the countries are improving and acknowledged that an intergovernmental economic collaboration commission between Turkmenistan and Turkey had aided the expansion of trade between the countries.
Berdimuhamedow also thanked Gül for supporting Turkmenistan Culture Day, which took place in Turkey on June 18. Gül responded by inviting Berdimuhamedow back to Turkey at a future date.
Turkmenistan is one of the countries in Central Asia that have a significant level of political and economic relations with Turkey. In the last four years the Turkish president visited Turkmenistan four times and, likewise, the Turkmen president has visited Turkey four times since 2008. These mutual visits have served to improve the relationship between the two countries.
Foreign trade volume between the countries increased to $1.5 billion in 2010, and in the last three years Turkey has overtaken Russia by becoming the leading nation for trade with Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan is also the Central Asian country in which Turkish businessmen have invested the most, with more than 600 Turkish businesses currently operating there.
