Participation of President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov in the China - Central Asia Summit at the invitation of Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping became an important international event of the last week. Aspiring to promote entirely positive processes in regional and global dimensions, neutral Turkmenistan brings a powerful contribution to promotion of mutually beneficial relations, maintenance of universal peace, security and stability, achievement of goals of sustainable development, consolidation of bonds of friendship and good neighbourhood between countries and peoples.
On May 18, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, who arrived with a working visit to the capital of the province of Shaanxi of the People’s Republic of China for participation in the above-named Summit, carried out talks with Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping.
The parties exchanged opinions on a wide range of issues of interaction, having underlined that thanks to joint efforts, bilateral relations have been brought up to the level of strategic cooperation in political, trade and economic and cultural-humanitarian spheres.
In the presence of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping the ceremony of signing of bilateral documents took place.
Within his working visit, the President of Turkmenistan took part in the first China - Central Asia Summit.
Speaking at the Summit, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov underlined topicality of establishment of co-ordinated actions between foreign policy departments of Central Asia and China on bilateral and multilateral basis and proposed to consider possibility of creation of mechanisms of multilateral consultations, goals of which will be systematization of reached agreements and review of their fulfilment.
President of Turkmenistan singled out the fuel and energy sphere as one of the basic areas of cooperation of the People’s Republic of China with countries of Central Asia the and spoke for continuation of realisation of new projects for increase in delivery of Turkmen natural gas in the Chinese direction.
In addition to it, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov expressed confidence that the project put forward by Turkmenistan "Revival of the Great Silk Road" will give a powerful impulse to economic development in Eurasia, uniting huge space from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans on modern principles, forming interconnected industrial and technological cycles and industrial belts. A special emphasis was made on importance of concentration of joint efforts for maximum realisation of the potential that opens in terms of optimisation of transport flows in the region of Central Asia and China.
The signing of the Xi'an declaration at the China - Central Asia Summit in which it is underlined that the parties in the warm atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding summed up friendly exchanges between Central Asian states and the People’s Republic of China, generalised experience of many-sided mutually beneficial cooperation and marked milestones for further interaction, became an important result of the meeting.
Another significant step was the adoption of the List of results of the first China - Central Asia Summit, which outlines the main agreements and cooperation initiatives, mechanisms and platforms for multilateral interaction.
On May 21, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov held the regular online meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, considered actual issues of state life and drafts of some documents.
Preparation of events on the occasion of Day of Ashgabat city, including the XXII universal international exhibition “White city of Ashgabat” was informed.
Preparation for conduction of the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Georgian commission for economic cooperation, participation in the international exhibition of textile machinery in the city of Milan of the Italian Republic, organisation of a working trip of the delegation of Turkmenistan to the Federal Republic of Germany with a view of development of trade and economic relations of Turkmenistan with foreign countries is carried out.
The Turkmen delegation took part in the International Economic Forum “Russia- the Islamic world: Kazan Forum- 2023”, which was held in the city of Kazan of the Republic of Tatarstan of the Russian Federation. The separate section “Infrastructural conditions for development of cooperation in the field of industry, transport and logistics between Russia and Turkmenistan”, devoted to issues of bilateral interaction in spheres of transport, logistics and industry was included in its agenda.
Issues of further strengthening of cooperation with the United Nations Organization and its specialised agencies became one of themes of the meeting of the Government.
So, on July 28, 2022 at the 97th plenary meeting of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Resolution on declaration of Central Asia as zone of peace, trust and cooperation, put forward by Turkmenistan on behalf of regional states, was adopted. As the first step with a view of its realisation, on May 16 of the current year in New York (USA) the high-level debate of the United Nations General Assembly "Zone of Peace, Trust and Cooperation in Central Asia" was held.
During the meeting, readiness of member states of the United Nations for close partnership with regional countries in the given direction, and also significance of the United Nations Regional Centre for preventive diplomacy for Central Asia, other international and regional structures in these processes was underlined.
In United Nations’ format, Turkmenistan brings a powerful contribution to interaction in such priority areas as preservation of the environment and decrease in negative consequences of climate change. Following the results of the 79th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), that took place on May 15-19, this year in Bangkok (Kingdom of Thailand), the Resolution initiated by Turkmenistan, concerning creation of the special program of the United Nations on the Aral Sea basin was unanimously adopted.
Addressing participants of the meeting, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov stated that the good news has come from the United Nations Organization headquarters in New York. On May 16 at the 70th plenary meeting of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the initiative of Turkmenistan and with unanimous support of member states of the Community of Nations the Resolution according to which on November 26 was proclaimed as World Sustainable Transport Day, was adopted.
The fact that over 67 countries have acted as its co-authors, testifies to a great importance of this international document actual for the entire humanity.
Having underlined that adoption of the new Resolution, concerning the transport-communication sphere by the United nations General Assembly, became one more acknowledgement of increase of international authority of our independent neutral Fatherland, the President of Turkmenistan warmly congratulated members of the Government and all Turkmen people on this important international success of our country.
At the meeting, the head of the state signed Resolutions “On production of sugar beet in Turkmenistan in 2023” and “On creation of the organizing committee for holding festivities and events at high level on the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of independence of Turkmenistan.
Returning to the chronology of events, it is necessary to mention the online working meeting held at the beginning of week by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov at which issues of development of the agricultural sector and the course of seasonal field campaigns were considered.
The head of the state instructed relevant authorities to accelerate paces of work in cotton and wheat fields, to keep control over observance of agro-technical standards for care of potato, onion and other crops and fulfilment of production plan of cocoons.
On May 15, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov received director of the UNESCO Cluster Office in Tehran Golda El-Khoury, who handed over certificates given the last year for inscription on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, at the initiative of the Turkmen state such kinds of intangible heritage as “Turkmen art of embroidery”, “Sericulture and traditional production of silk for weaving” and “Traditions of retelling the parables of Molla Ependi”.
On May 16, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov received Margareta Söderfelt, Head of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA).
During the meeting importance of coordination of general efforts in maintenance of economic development, stable international delivery of energy carriers as well as in such areas as ecology and preservation of the environment, rational use of water resources was underlined.
The past week, the President of Turkmenistan signed Resolutions according to which, amendments and additions were made in the procedures of definition of cost of building and repair work, the provisions for licensing of work on manufacture of industrial building materials, products and designs was approved as well as amendments and additions were made to regulatory legal acts and some of them were recognised invalid.
On May 18, our country marked one of the significant dates of its national calendar – Day of the Constitution and National Flag of Turkmenistan. Being main state symbols, the Main Law and green banner embody firmness of basis of independence of our fatherland, indestructible unity of Turkmen people, its invariable adherence to high ideals of peace, humanism, good and creation.
With participation of National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov the ceremony of flower laying took place at the Monument of the Constitution and the Main flag of the country.
On that festive day, in the Gala Cultural and Entertainment Centre located in Gökdere, a solemn reception to which heads of diplomatic representative offices accredited in Turkmenistan and international organisations, were invited, took place.
Best professional singers and musicians, dancing and folklore groups devoted their best performance to successes and achievements of Turkmen people, prosperity of their native fatherland at the concert in the capital «Mejlisler merkezi».
Passing to the opening of new construction projects of the week, one should note that with participation of Hero-Arkadag in the capital residential area "Parahat-7" the opening ceremony of a 9-storey house of 54 flats with modern conveniences took place. Keys to 3 and 4-room apartments were given to newly elected deputies of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan. Moreover, in the administration centre of Mary velayat the pharmacy with a total area of 500 square metres was put into operation.
National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov held a working meeting with participation of a number of deputy-chairmen of the Cabinet and heads of relevant ministries and sectoral departments on May 15.
At the meeting the course of fulfilment of the Program “Revival of new epoch of the powerful state: National Program of Turkmenistan’s socioeconomic development in the period 2022-2052” and “Program of the President of Turkmenistan on socio-economic development of the country for 2022-2028”and also forthcoming tasks were considered.
On the same day, the telephone conversation of the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov with President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Founder of peace and national unity - Leader of the nation Emomali Rahmon, in the focus of which were issues of development of bilateral cooperation on a wide spectrum of areas, took place.
Prospects of mutually beneficial cooperation in all key areas were discussed on May 16 during the telephone conversation between National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan of the Russian Federation Rustam Minnikhanov.
On May 20, the National Leader of the Turkmen people made a working trip to the city of Arkadag for the purpose of acquaintance with the course of work carried out there and held there a working meeting devoted to organisation of the forthcoming opening of the city and industrial complexes planned within the second stage of construction of industrial processing of local raw materials, which meeting ecological requirements.
In Ashgabat, the XXXIV meeting of representatives of the parties to the International Transit Tariff (ITT) Treaty, devoted to perfection and contract actualisation about ITT took place. Representatives of the Parties from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Czech Republic, the Organization for Cooperation of Railways (OCR) Committee, and OSJD affiliated enterprises - OTKL ERA JSC, STM LLC, PLASKE JSC - took part in the forum.
At the meeting of the Central Commission for holding elections and referendums in Turkmenistan the issues connected with preparation for forthcoming elections of members of the Gengesh of aba Annayev settlement in Kyarizek etrap of Arkadag city, appointed according to the Resolution of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan for July 23 of the current year were considered.
In the capital hotel "Ýyldyz" the International conference “The role of neutral states in strengthening of security, stability and dialogue in the OSCE region” was held. The multilateral meeting was organised by the Mejlis of Turkmenistan jointly with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) within the initiative “Call for Action – Helsinki +50”.
In the Mejlis, the ceremony of delivery of credentials from the Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of the Republic of Serbia in Turkmenistan Momchilo Babich took place. During the meeting, prospects of activization of interstate relations in trade and economic, science and education, sports and tourism spheres and also intensification of cultural dialogue were marked.
The past week was so rich with events. Each of them can serve as an evident illustration of priorities of the policy "open doors”, peaceful disposition, good neighbourhood, progressive transformations, realised under the leadership of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov during the Era of Revival of the New Epoch of the Powerful State.