YEREVAN. – Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s official visit to the Republic of Armenia (RA) caused no interest—to put it mildly—among the public, and the official statements on this visit were purely ceremonial, according to Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times) newspaper.

“And it is natural; in actual fact, there are no close relations between Armenia and Turkmenistan. But how strange it may sound, personal ties between the authorities of the RA and Turkmenistan are strengthening in recent times.

“[Natural] gas-rich Turkmenistan wishes to extensively switch the automobiles in its territory to [natural] gas [fuel]. And for that, the whole territory of the country needs to be covered with [natural] gas filling stations. That is a quite expensive project, and [Armenian Prime Minister] Karen Karapetyan is attempting to take a considerable part of that order [to be placed], with the companies affiliated with him. Besides, the same companies are expected to get involved [also] in installing [natural] gas-fuel equipment to automobiles [in Turkmenistan],” wrote Haykakan Zhamanak.