President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov had a meeting with President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, who had arrived in Ashgabat to participate in the celebrations in honour of the International Day of Nowruz.

President Hamid Karzai expressed his deep gratitude to the Turkmen leader for providing continued assistance and substantial support to the Afghan people in promoting a peaceful life and social and economic development and sending humanitarian aid in honour of Nowruz bairamy. Thanking for the kind words, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov reaffirmed that Turkmenistan was committed to a traditionally friendly, constructive dialogue with Afghanistan and stood ready to further provide the neighbouring country all possible assistance in its economic and cultural revival.

During the meeting the sides exchanged views on the potential of Turkmen-Afghan partnership, focusing on the trade and economic, power, transport and other sectors as its priority spheres. The two leaders also emphasized the importance of strengthening traditional cultural and humanitarian contacts.

A focus of talks was cooperation in the transport and communications and fuel and energy sectors, particularly the implementation of the projects of the trunk railways and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.