Today, the two-day working visit of National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the United Arab Emirates has ended.

As is known, the day before, our Hero Arkadag met with President of the UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the capital of the friendly state, during which the parties made specific proposals for the further strengthening of traditional cooperation in a number of promising areas.

Thanks to the mutual commitment of Turkmenistan and the UAE to consolidating joint efforts to build an exemplary interstate dialogue on the principles of equality, respect and mutual benefit, the separately reached agreements laid the basis of the documents signed during the current visit.

...In the morning, National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov headed for the Abu Dhabi International Airport. In a brief conversation with representative of the UAE President for Affairs with Turkmenistan, Mohamed Said Mohamed Al-Ariki, who was seeing him off, the Hero Arkadag noted with satisfaction the fruitfulness of the bilateral cooperation established in recent years and highly appreciated the prospects opening up for its further expansion.

Taking into consideration the priorities of socio-economic development of the two countries and their national interests, great attention will be further paid to deepening constructive joint activities in such important areas as oil and gas, trade, economy, transport and communications.

At the end of the conversation, representative of the UAE President for Affairs with Turkmenistan Mohamed Said Mohamed Al-Ariki wished the high guest constructive negotiations with the leaderships of the largest Emirati companies, as well as health and success in the responsible government activities.

From Abu Dhabi, the Arkadag’s airliner flew to the largest economic, cultural and tourist center of the United Arab Emirates, the city of Dubai, at whose International Airport the National Leader of the Turkmen people was welcomed by officials.

As part of the working visit to the UAE, the Hero Arkadag met with Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company “Dragon Oil” Saeed Al Tayer.

Thanking for finding time for the meeting and the opportunity to discuss topical issues of cooperation in a personal conversation, the head of “Dragon Oil” congratulated the Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan on the successful meeting held the day before with the President of the UAE, which will certainly add a new bright chapter in the history of Turkmen-Emirati relations.

The businessman took the opportunity to convey warm greetings and best wishes to the high guest from Vice President, Prime Minister, Minister of Defense of the United Arab Emirates, Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Thanking for the kind words and expressing best wishes in return to the leadership of the friendly country, the National Leader of the Turkmen people emphasized that the United Arab Emirates is a long-standing and reliable partner with which Turkmenistan successfully cooperates both on a bilateral and multilateral basis, primarily within the largest international organizations and authoritative regional agencies.

This was confirmed by the working visit of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov to Dubai early last month to participate in the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-28).

Congratulating on the successful holding of the UN World Climate Summit, the Arkadag expressed confidence that all the initiatives put forward during that major international forum will contribute to strengthening international dialogue for a happy and prosperous future of the planet.

It was emphasized that Turkmenistan, which announced its accession to the Global Methane Pledge, is aware of the need to continue targeted work in this direction on the international and national scales.

Thus, in connection with accession to the Paris Agreement, a number of relevant state programs were adopted in our country, including the National Climate Change Strategy, according to which measures are taken to reduce and eliminate the negative consequences of methane emissions into the atmosphere.

The matter is, first of all, in a phased transition to the introduction and application of modern environmentally friendly and resource-saving technologies, primarily in the oil and gas, transport, electric power sectors, agro-industrial complex, construction industry, etc.

All initiatives announced by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov related to maintaining environmental safety will be consistently and steadily implemented starting this year.

As was noted, Turkmenistan, having enormous reserves of hydrocarbon resources, invariably advocates establishing mutually beneficial cooperation with the world’s leading companies engaged in the exploration, development and production thereof.

Among them is the Company “Dragon Oil”, which has established a reputation as a responsible and reliable partner.

During the meeting, the possibilities of building up long-term successful cooperation, taking into account the accumulated solid experience of joint work and the grandiose plans of Turkmenistan for the further development of the domestic fuel and energy complex, were discussed.

As National Leader of the Turkmen people Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized, the priority objectives set for this major industry, which is rightfully recognized as the driving force of the national economy, include increasing the production and refining of oil and natural gas, as well as the export of Turkmen energy resources and finished oil and gas products.

These goals underlie Turkmenistan’s energy policy designed to use the wealth of our country for the benefit of all humanity.

The striking illustration of these words is the grandiose project of the 21st century, the construction of the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline, designed to give a powerful impetus to the socio-economic development of the entire Asian region.

It is expected that the third development phase of the giant “Galkynyş” field will become a source for ensuring the future gas supplies through this main pipeline.

In this regard, partners and investors from the UAE are also invited to participate in the implementation of new energy projects related to the construction of gas pipeline infrastructure intended to supply natural gas from Turkmenistan to the countries of the region and other states.

As is known, “Dragon Oil” with its head office in Dubai (UAE) has been operating in Turkmenistan since 2000 under a Production Sharing Agreement. The main area of its activity is the production of hydrocarbons in the contract territory “Çeleken” in the Caspian Sea. Over the past years, the company has invested heavily in the exploration and development of fields, in particular “Jeýtun” and “Jygalybeg”.

Just the other day, “Dragon Oil” opened its new office in Ashgabat, which was another acknowledgment of the established long-term, strategic partnership.

Thanking for providing support, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company “Dragon Oil” Saeed Al Tayer assured that the company he heads will continue to strictly fulfill all its obligations.

Saying goodbye, the Hero Arkadag and the businessman exchanged mutual kind wishes, expressing confidence that the existing mutual interest will become the basis for further fruitful cooperation in the oil and gas sector.

Following the meeting, a signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Concern “Türkmennebit” and the Company “Dragon Oil (Turkmenistan) Ltd.” took place in the presence of the Arkadag.

On the same day, National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov met with Commercial Director of the Company “Dubai Aviation Corporation (Flydubai)” Hamad Obaidalla.

Expressing appreciation for the opportunity to discuss priority issues of cooperation, the representative of the largest airline in the world conveyed warm words of greetings to the Hero Arkadag from Vice President, Prime Minister, Minister of Defense of the United Arab Emirates, Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Expressing Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum reciprocal best wishes, Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized the interest of our country in the comprehensive expansion of Turkmen-Emirati cooperation, which has been successfully developed all these years for the mutual benefits.

According to Hamad Obaidalla, many representatives of the UAE business community are deeply interested in close cooperation with Turkmenistan. This is a great merit of National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who has always paid special attention to the development of a wide-ranging, constructive interstate dialogue in all key areas.

As was emphasized during the meeting, successfully carrying out the “open doors” and broad international cooperation policy, our country stands for establishing direct relations with leading foreign companies having a reliable business reputation.

As is known, our state, which occupies an advantageous geographical location, is consistently developing routes for land, as well as air transport. Thus, in 2010, Turkmenistan became the first Central Asian country to establish regular flights with the UAE.

Thanks to the cooperation between the “Türkmenhowaýollary” Agency and the “Dubai Aviation Corporation”, flights on the Ashgabat-Dubai-Ashgabat route are regularly operated today. From today, flights are operated between the capitals of the two countries, the cities of Ashgabat and Abu Dhabi, which will directly contribute to stepping up interstate relations, in particular trade and economic cooperation.

The Commercial Director of the “Dubai Aviation Corporation” gave a high assessment to the modern aviation industry infrastructure that has been created in Turkmenistan in recent years, as well as the coordinated work of its technical services, and confirmed the desire of “Flydubai” to expand mutually beneficial partnership. In particular, a proposal was made to increase the number of flights between the two countries.

It should be noted that the expansion of joint activities in the field of civil aviation became one of the important topics of discussion at the meeting between National Leader of the Turkmen people Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan that took place the day before.

As was pointed out, taking into account the experience and capabilities of “Flydubai” as one of the world’s leading air carriers of passengers and cargo, prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation are opening up not only in the field of training qualified aviation personnel, but also in providing technical support and services, and supplying the latest, innovative equipment.

National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Commercial Director of the “Dubai Aviation Corporation (Flydubai)” Hamad Obaidalla exchanged mutual good wishes, expressing confidence in the further successful promotion of the productive cooperation established in recent years.

At the end of the meeting, a signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between the “Türkmenhowaýollary” Agency of the Transport and Communications Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan and the “Dubai Aviation Corporation” took place in the presence of the Hero Arkadag.

The high effectiveness of the current working visit of the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan to the UAE is evidenced by other important documents signed within two days.

These included the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Concern “Türkmengaz” and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) (the purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding is the intention of the Parties to attract certain strategic partners for the development of the 3rd development phase of the “Galkynyş” field and their possible participation in energy projects related to the construction of gas pipeline infrastructure designed for the supply of natural gas to the countries of the region and other states); the Memorandum of Cooperation between the State Concern “Türkmengaz” and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) (the purpose of this Memorandum of Cooperation is the intention of the Parties to study the potential opportunities for mutually beneficial scientific, technical and economic cooperation in the field of reducing methane emissions into the atmosphere); and the Agreement for Cooperation between the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan and the “First Abu Dhabi Bank”.

At the end of the working visit to the United Arab Emirates, the National Leader of the Turkmen people proceeded to the Dubai International Airport and departed for the Homeland. The Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan was seen off by officials.

Upon arrival at the Ashgabat International Airport, the Hero Arkadag was met by officials and a representative of the UAE Embassy in Turkmenistan. Heartily congratulating National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on the successful visit, the diplomat expressed confidence that all agreements reached during the meetings and negotiations will contribute to strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation and ties of friendship between the two countries and their fraternal peoples.

Thanking for the kind words, the Hero Arkadag stressed the significance of the current working visit in bringing interstate relations between Turkmenistan and the UAE to a qualitatively new level, based on mutual respect and benefit, and emphasized that during the meetings specific proposals were made on the development of traditional cooperation in a number of areas and relevant agreements have been reached.

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Documents signed 

1. The Memorandum of Understanding between the State Concern “Türkmengaz” and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) (the purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding is the intention of the Parties to attract certain strategic partners for the development of the 3rd development phase of the “Galkynyş” field and their possible participation in energy projects related to the construction of gas pipeline infrastructure designed for the supply of natural gas to the countries of the region and other states);

2. The Memorandum of Cooperation between the State Concern “Türkmengaz” and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) (the purpose of this Memorandum of Cooperation is the intention of the Parties to study the potential opportunities for mutually beneficial scientific, technical and economic cooperation in the field of reducing methane emissions into the atmosphere); 

3. The Agreement for Cooperation between the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan and the “First Abu Dhabi Bank”;

4. The Memorandum of Understanding between the State Concern “Türkmennebit” and the Company “Dragon Oil (Turkmenistan) Ltd.”;

5. The Memorandum of Understanding between the “Türkmenhowaýollary” Agency of the Transport and Communications Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan and the Company “Dubai Aviation Corporation”.