Iran's Caretaker Minister of Labor, Cooperatives and Social Welfare and Turkmen Minister of Labor and Social Protection signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday to boost cooperation in the fields of social protection, retirees, social security, welfare and technical and vocational training services.

During the meeting, Iranian Caretaker Minister of Labor Mohammad-Hadi Zahedivafa pointed to the friendly and amicable relations between the two neighboring countries and said that the two countries of Iran and Turkmenistan have established very good relationship over the past 30 years ago in a way that Iran was the first country that recognized independence of Turkmenistan.

Iranian Ministry of Labor holds many economic enterprises working in the fields of rail and maritime transport and can pave suitable ground for enhancing bilateral cooperation in relevant fields, he emphasized.

Zahedivafa then pointed to the gas swap between Iran and Turkmenistan and added that effective steps have been taken in this field and Iran welcomes to forge further cooperation with Turkmenistan.

 The two countries of Iran and Turkmenistan enjoy high trade and economic capacities to broaden volume of their trade exchanges more than doubled, he added.

Turkmenistan Minister of Labor and Social Protection, for his turn, expressed hope that suitable MoUs will be signed between the two countries following the visit of Turkmen President to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Energy and transport areas are prioritized fields of cooperation between the two countries and effective steps must be taken by officials of the two countries in this respect.