Ï Turkmenistan to Become Transcontinental Bridge for Economic Cooperation
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Turkmenistan to Become Transcontinental Bridge for Economic Cooperation

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Speaking at the International Forum “The Great Silk Road: Towards New Frontiers of Development”, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov outlined Turkmenistan’s priorities in international partnership in the field of transport and communication.

Turkmenistan sees the Central Asia as an integral and important link of the Great Silk Road, stressed the head of state. Due to several historical, geopolitical and economic factors this region has played and continues to play a special role not only in continental but also global processes. And it is the Central Asia, what it becomes and which tendencies dominate this region that will largely define the vector of development of the global politics in the foreseeable future.

Throughout centuries these lands were crossed by caravan roads that connected civilizations, and it was on these lands that the natural bridge between the East and the West was created to become the center of intercivilizational dialog. Our aim is to revive this historic predestination of the Central Asia in new conditions and new realities, said the Turkmen leader.

One of the most important activities in reaching these goals is ensuring successful integration of the region into international ties and creating a relevant transport, transit and communication systems. This implies the construction of an extensive, integrated, incorporated transport and communication infrastructure that will cover continental Eurasia and provide access to marine terminals of the Black and Baltic Sea, South and South-Eastern Asia and the Middle East.

This project also involves connecting to the transport infrastructure in southern and eastern directions, creating links to such powerful economic centers as China, India, Pakistan, countries of Asia-Pacific, said the President.

Turkmenistan intends to play the role of a transcontinental economic bridge for cooperation of the European, Asia-Pacific and South-Asian economic systems. Therefore, apart from progressive integration into the global transport system, expansion of the national infrastructure along the key routes and points of connection in the East-West and North-South directions, a set of measures is envisaged to ensure maximum effectiveness of transport routes, decrease the share of transport costs in the value of end products in domestic, transit, export and import traffic.

One of expected outcomes of implementing this strategy is creating a network of intermodal transport and logistics centers. New transport corridors help expand the service market in this sphere. Which in turn requires active marketing and foreign economic policy, optimized tariffs with countries along international transport corridors and a flexible system of tariff preferences, said President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.