Turkmenistan will increase gas supplies to Uzbekistan. This became known from a telephone conversation between President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the Turkmen Golden Age state news agency said.

Reportedly, Mirziyoyev and Berdimuhamedov agreed to increase the volume of Turkmen natural gas supplies to Uzbekistan, and also emphasized the great prospects for the implementation of joint gas projects planned for implementation in the near future, the report says.

The press service of the President of Uzbekistan did not report on gas supplies in a press release, but indicated that year-to-date, the two-way trade has valued at over $ 1 billion (most of which is gas supplies).

In addition, freight traffic is reportedly growing, including through the port of Turkmenbashi, and the Shavat - Dashoguz border zone project is underway.

During the conversation, Shavkat Mirziyoyev congratulated the leader of Turkmenistan on the upcoming holiday - the country's Neutrality Day, which is celebrated on December 12.

At the end of October, it became known that companies from Turkmenistan and Russia did not renew the Turkmenistan gas sales contract, since the parties did not agree on price. Chairman of Turkmengaz Maksat Babayev noted that Turkmenistan has buyers for the non-contracted export volumes.

In December 2022, Uzbekistan for the first time entered into a direct short-term contract with Turkmenistan, without the participation of a third party (Russian Gazprom), for the supply of 1.5 BCM of gas. In August 2023, Uzbekistan again inked a contract with Turkmenistan for the supply of Turkmen gas of up to 2 billion cubic meters annually. The parties also worked out a long-term contract - for longer periods and with an increase in supplies.

Gas imports to Uzbekistan since the beginning of the year have reached $1.36 billion, which is 2.4 times more than the figure for 10 months of 2023, according to the Statistics Agency.

Since October 2023, Uzbekistan has been importing gas from Russia via Kazakhstan in the reverse direction. It was reported that there were plans to invest $500 million to modernize the main gas system to increase the volume of gas imports from the Russian Federation.