Today, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov went on a working visit to the Russian Federation, where he took part in an informal Summit of CIS leaders held in St. Petersburg in a face-to-face format.

At the Ashgabat International Airport, the head of state was escorted by officials.

Despite certain difficulties the whole faced world as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic, the outgoing year was exceptionally fruitful for the Commonwealth of Independent States, because it passed under the sign of a glorious anniversary date – the 30^th anniversary of its formation.

Today, after more than a quarter of a century, Turkmenistan’s neutral status remains an important factor in maintaining regional and global stability and security, demonstrating the high effectiveness of the practical application of the principles of neutrality in solving many issues on the international agenda.

The CIS countries expressed support and solidarity in the implementation of the initiative of Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to declare 2021 the International Year of Peace and Trust, also enshrined by a special resolution of the UN General Assembly. It is noteworthy that this year, 2021, on the initiative of the Turkmen side, was declared as the “Year of Architecture and Urban Planning” in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

...A few hours later, the presidential airliner landed at the Pulkovo International Airport in St. Petersburg, where President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov was met by officials.

Then the motorcade of the President of Turkmenistan proceeded to the venue of the current informal meeting of the CIS heads of the member states – the Presidential Library named after B.N.Yeltsin.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin warmly and cordially welcomed the Turkmen leader here.

The Summit was also attended by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev was also invited to the meeting.

Opening the informal Summit, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin thanked everyone for accepting the invitation and, taking the opportunity, congratulated the heads of friendly states on the 30^th anniversary of the creation of the CIS and the 30^th anniversary of the independence of the countries.

As the Russian leader noted, the creation of the Commonwealth itself was certainly justified, integration in many areas deepened in various aspects: both in the ensuring the security of our states and in the economic sphere. In his opinion, precisely the established connections make it possible to go through the difficult period of the pandemic that all countries of the world are facing.

Taking into account that the general fight against coronavirus is one of the important and topical topics of discussion, the head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebsoyuz), Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation Anna Popova was invited to the high-level meeting, who spoke about possible further areas of joint work in order to counter a dangerous viral infection.

In this regard, speaking at the Summit, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov thanked President Vladimir Putin for the assistance provided in this area.

“To date, this pandemic has not been registered in Turkmenistan. Thanks to the Russian Federation, we were among the first to register Sputnik V and EpiVacCorona, which our population is currently vaccinated with. Just the other day we received Sputnik Light, which is already being used as a booster vaccine,” the Turkmen leader noted.

The head of Turkmenistan also made a number of initiatives, suggesting new areas of cooperation in the field of scientific medicine. In particular, speaking about threats to biological security in the CIS, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov proposed to revise and sign a single document in this area once again, noting that Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation have already signed such a document.

In addition, having focused the attention of the meeting participants on the fact that Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are arid zones with different clinical manifestations than in Russia, the nation’s leader emphasized the need to study the coronavirus genome based on the characteristics of this zone.

Thanking for the assistance rendered to everyone, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov highlighted that if Russia had centrally provided its methodological guidelines and manuals specifically on the study of both bacteriology and virology, then unified approaches would have been developed in these issues.

Thanking his Turkmen counterpart for constructive proposals on further cooperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed confidence that the CIS countries will move further in this direction.

It should be noted that informal meetings of CIS leaders on New Year’s Eve has become a good tradition. These summits not only summarize the results of the work done over the year, but also discuss the main tasks and priorities of joint activities for the foreseeable future, compare positions on major international and regional issues.

As the Turkmen leader underlined at the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States held on October 15 of this year in an online format, “these are the sectors in which we can successfully compete in international markets, and offer favorable conditions to potential partners”.

The CIS countries firmly defend the principles of equality and respect in interstate relations, advocate the establishment of a culture of peace and dialogue on the global agenda, the strengthening of universal stability and security, making a significant contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals set.

In this regard, among the most important areas of further joint work, Turkmenistan also participates in the protection of global security system, upholding the norms of international law and the UN Charter.

The nation’s leader invariably emphasizes that the CIS countries, using their political and diplomatic capabilities, are called upon to speak from consolidated and principled positions in the United Nations and other authoritative international and regional structures in order to return to world politics respect for law, a culture of dialogue, trust and predictability in relations between states.

It is this position that ensures the viability and flexibility for the Commonwealth of Independent States, reveals new facets and prospects of partnership, determines the existence of the CIS as an integral element of the system of international stability and security.

Speaking about giving powerful impulses to the CIS activities, the head of Turkmenistan invariably emphasizes that today new, modern schemes and models of cooperation are needed both within the Commonwealth and in relations with other states and international economic associations.

Noting the commonality of the goals and objectives, the participants of the current informal high-level meeting reaffirmed the readiness of the neighboring countries to give a new quality and content to the traditional partnership, taking into account the accumulated positive experience of joint work and priorities of socio-economic development.

Also today, during the visit, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov held a telephone talk with Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko, during which special attention was paid to the further development of bilateral inter-parliamentary cooperation.

...At the end of the program of the working visit to the Russian Federation, the President of Turkmenistan went to the Pulkovo International Airport to fly off home.