Mehdi Safari, who is now in Turkmenistan to attend the 16th Caspian Sea work group meeting, added the figure is expected to reach over one billion dollars by the end of 2005.

He termed bilateral ties as positive and said both countries are improving their relations in political, economic, and cultural areas.

Referring to the two countries' close relations in water and power sectors, Safari added the Friendship Dam on Iran-Turkmenistan border will be inaugurated in the presence of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and his Turkmen counterpart Saparmurat Niyazov in April 2005.

He underlined Tehran and Ashgabat have a common stance on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea.

Safari, who conferred with Niyazov Friday, said bilateral cooperation in energy, power, and transportation sectors was discussed in the meeting.

The one-day work group meeting started Friday.