DUSHANBE, April 10, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi today held talks with Turkmen President Gurbagulu Berdymukhammedov in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on sidelines of a two-day CIS foreign ministers’ meeting that opened in the Turkmen capital on Friday.

According to the MFA information department, the two discussed a broad range of issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Zarifi and Berdymukhammedov, in particular, exchanged views on trade, energy and cargo transit cooperation between the two countries, as well as holding of the next session of the Tajik-Turkmen intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation in Dushanbe.

During his stay in Ashgabat, Zarifi also held talks with his Kazakh counterpart, Marat Tazhin to discuss cooperation issues and the agenda of the forthcoming session of the council of heads of states that established the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS).

The Aral, once the world''s fourth biggest inland sea, has halved in depth and lost 90% of its volume in 40 years.  Kazakhstan and its neighbor Uzbekistan share the Aral''s waters.  With Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, they have formed the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea.