Consistently implementing a constructive foreign policy strategy, independent neutral Turkmenistan deepens mutually beneficial cooperation with all interested parties, primarily with the countries of the Central Asian region, whose peoples are united by centuries-old historical and cultural ties. This was once again confirmed by new sound initiatives to ensure regional peace and trust put forward by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov at the Fourth Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia, held on July 21 in the city of Cholpon-Ata of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Before the start of the Summit, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov met with President Sadyr Japarov.

The heads of state discussed a wide range of issues related to the prospects of the Turkmen-Kyrgyz partnership in the context of the implementation of the agreements reached earlier, the priorities of the socio-economic development of both states.

President Sadyr Japarov also invited President Serdar Berdimuhamedov to pay an official visit to Kyrgyzstan in the near future. The invitation was accepted with gratitude. The dates of the visit will be agreed through diplomatic channels.

Speaking at the Summit, the President of Turkmenistan noted that over the year that has passed since the third Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia in the city of Turkmenbashi, significant transformations have taken place in the world, new realities and challenges have arisen that have not bypassed our region.

With all the urgency, a key issue arose - ensuring security. Unfortunately, we cannot yet say that peace in the wide Eurasian space is unshakable, and stability has become irreversible, the head of Turkmenistan said.

Among the main threats to security, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov singled out attempts to destabilize the internal political situation in the countries of the region and the penetration of extremist and radical elements into Central Asia.

The head of Turkmenistan also noted the possible negative impact of the consequences of military-political conflicts taking place in relative proximity to the borders of our region, the illegal use of information technology, the planting of ideas and attitudes from outside that run counter to the historical traditions of the peoples of Central Asia.

These challenges require the adoption of effective measures to create a strong and long-term security system in the region, neutralize potential threats that could hinder or slow down our progress. Together we must ensure that Central Asia remains a zone of stability and trust, free from risks to peace and development, said President Serdar Berdimuhamedov.

In this regard, the expediency of intensifying and strengthening political and diplomatic cooperation through the mechanism of five-party regular consultations was noted. At the same time, the need for constant monitoring of the situation, timely exchange of information, objective analysis of events taking place in the world as a basis for decision-making was stated.

The head of Turkmenistan also proposed to instruct the foreign ministries of the Central Asian states to develop a Roadmap for the entire spectrum of the security agenda for the next two years with the participation of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia.

In order to effectively protect the information space in the region, an initiative was announced to develop a “code of conduct” when covering sensitive topics. In this context, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov proposed to consider the idea of holding a Central Asian media forum dedicated to security issues with the participation of state news agencies, print media, and electronic media.

It was also noted that joint work in the Afghan direction remains to be the most important part of cooperation in the field of regional security, and provides for the stabilization of the situation in this country, the creation of conditions for achieving national agreement through peaceful dialogue, the promotion of international efforts to combat terrorism, the provision of economic and humanitarian aid. 

During his speech, the President of Turkmenistan emphasized that the Central Asian countries are called upon to set an example of respect, equality and trust in relations with each other and actively promote these ideas in the international arena.

The head of state said that Turkmenistan is currently preparing initiatives at the UN to declare 2023 the International Year of Dialogue as a Guarantee of Peace and to develop a General Assembly Resolution “Zone of Peace and Trust in Central Asia”, stressing that he counts on the support of these constructive proposals by all countries CA.

In his speech, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov paid special attention to the development of trade, economic and investment cooperation between the states of Central Asia in terms of the formation of a new geo-economic landscape of Eurasia. The head of Turkmenistan called transport and logistics the cornerstone of this strategy.

Recalling that the International Conference of Ministers of Landlocked Developing Countries is planned to be held in Turkmenistan in August, the head of state expressed hope for the initiative participation of the Central Asian countries in this forum, aimed at developing coordinated approaches to the formation of international transport and logistics corridors.

In this regard, a proposal was made within the framework of the conference to hold a separate meeting of the heads of transport departments of the Central Asian countries to discuss the possibilities of increasing cargo flows both within the region and to China and Europe.

Speaking about the fact that the common asset fund already has a major energy project implemented - Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline - the head of state also announced his readiness to consider, together with partners, opportunities for a significant increase in energy supplies and expansion of their transit configuration.

Among the most important areas of interaction between the Central Asian countries, which have vast natural resources, strong industrial and technological potential, the President of Turkmenistan named industrial cooperation, noting the significant role of private business in organizing partnership production lines, “integration corridors”. In this regard, it was proposed to return to the idea, expressed at the last Consultative Meeting, of establishing the Council of Business Cooperation of the Central Asian countries.

Speaking about cultural and humanitarian interaction, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov proposed to create a Forum for Cultural Dialogue of Central Asia, which would have a regular character, and to establish an annual Prize of the Presidents of the Central Asian countries for achievements in the field of culture.

At the same time, emphasis was placed on the relevance of strengthening and intensifying joint work with UNESCO, including on the preservation of the historical heritage of the peoples of Central Asia, highlighting this topic as a separate area of activity for our delegations in this Organization. In this regard, the need to entrust the foreign ministries with the development of a joint action plan of the countries of Central Asia to work with the UNESCO Secretariat was discussed.

At the end of his speech, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov stressed that today, in the conditions of the extreme aggravation of the world situation, we, neighbors, fraternal peoples with a common history and roots, need, by all means, to maintain unity and solidarity, to show responsibility and far-sightedness.

As a result of the Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia, a number of documents were adopted.

Turning to the chronology of the events of the past week, we note that a number of priority tasks in the field of the agro-industrial complex were identified at the working meeting held by the President of Turkmenistan on July 18th via the digital system.

In particular, the meeting participants spoke about increasing the pace of seasonal agricultural campaigns, uninterrupted transportation of harvested wheat to elevators and its proper storage, high-quality plowing of vacated land, organizing the selection of seed material, rational water supply for farmland, taking into account the achievements of modern science and national farming traditions.

Along with this, the importance was noted of keeping under control the issues of caring for cotton crops, collecting without loss the grown crops of potatoes and other vegetable and melon crops, and the effective use of agricultural machinery and equipment in areas sown with rice.

Separate instructions related to the construction of various facilities, repair work in educational institutions before the start of the new academic year.

At the meeting, the President of Turkmenistan signed the Decree on making appropriate changes and additions to the volumes of petroleum products for domestic consumers approved by Decree of the President of Turkmenistan No. 2572 of January 21, 2022 for 2022.

According to the document, daikhan associations, who were allocated land, and commodity producers, will be able to purchase diesel fuel necessary for their equipment at approved tariffs, which is designed to promote the cultivation of rich crops.

On July 20th, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov took part in the celebrations on the occasion of the commissioning of the Power Equipment Repair and Maintenance Center built in the Buzmeyinsky etrap of the capital.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the only gas turbine repair facility in Central Asia, the head of state noted that new modern power plants have been built in all velayats of the Motherland, the construction of the country's internal energy ring and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan power transmission line is underway.

The large-scale work carried out in our country makes it possible to form reliable energy capacities. This creates favorable conditions for exporting excess electricity and diversifying its supply routes, the head of state stressed.

The new Service Center is of great importance for the industry. It will reduce the time and cost of equipment repair services for powerful energy facilities built in all regions of the country, and will also contribute to the training of highly qualified specialists of the relevant profile.

The Center, built by the Turkish company Çalik Enerji Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., uses advanced technologies from the American company General Electric.

More than 120 jobs have been created at the enterprise, which meets all environmental requirements. For specialists who will work here, relevant training courses are organized, as well as theoretical and practical classes online with a connection to General Electric service centers abroad.

President Serdar Berdimuhamedov got acquainted with the equipment and technologies of the Center and made a commemorative entry in the Book of Honored Guests, as well as handed over the keys to the Minister of Energy of Turkmenistan to new official vehicles intended for the newly commissioned production facility.

The new energy service center in Ashgabat - the most modern in terms of equipment among similar facilities in the world - has been awarded five international certificates.

Among them are the Certificate of “General Electric Gas Power Europe” on permission to use the technologies of the company “General Electric” (USA), the Certificate from the company “The London Energy Club”, confirming that the new enterprise of the energy industry of Turkmenistan is an advanced engineering project and the only center of this profile in Central Asia.

In addition, the Center was awarded the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy Systems Technology (Germany) Certificate for the introduction of sustainable and advanced technologies and the TUV (Germany) Certificate of the Republic of Austria for the construction of a facility at a high-quality level.

By the decision of one of the largest in Germany University “Duisburg-Essen”, the Ashgabat Energy Service Center was awarded the Certificate as an environmentally friendly facility that does not harm the environment.

On the same day, the President of Turkmenistan received Ahmet Chalyk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Çalik Holding group of companies, who congratulated the head of state on the commissioning of the high-tech Center, noting that the holding he leads is sincerely proud of participating in the implementation of this project and is interested in continuing mutually beneficial cooperation.

The head of “Çalik Holding” informed the head of the Turkmen state about the promotion of joint projects carried out in partnership with the world famous company “General Electric” as part of large-scale transformation programs launched in our country.

President Serdar Berdimuhamedov also met with Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili, who arrived in the Turkmen capital at the head of his country's delegation.

During the exchange of views on the current state and prospects of bilateral cooperation, it was noted that our countries have enough potential to deepen contacts in various areas of economic activity. The interlocutors stressed the expediency of studying the possibilities of increasing the range of import-export goods. At the same time, emphasis was placed on the significant role of the Intergovernmental Commission, whose work is aimed at developing the most effective forms of interaction.

Particular attention was paid to the formation of a transport and transit corridor between the Caspian and Black Sea regions with access to the states of Europe and the Middle East.

Priority issues of interaction in various sectors were also discussed during the talks between the delegations of Turkmenistan and Georgia.

Trade and economic sphere, transport and communications sector, and energy industry were identified among the promising vectors of bilateral cooperation. At the same time, emphasis was placed on the importance of implementing promising projects that meet the interests not only of our countries, but also designed to give a powerful impetus to the formation of an energy security architecture throughout the Eurasian space.

As a result of the talks, a number of bilateral documents were signed.

Last week, Ashgabat hosted a two-day international conference “International transport and transit corridors: interconnection and development”, dedicated to the diversification of transport and transit cooperation in the Eurasian space.

The forum, organized by the Transport and Communications Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan jointly with the ES “Turkmen Forum”, was attended by representatives of ministries and departments, experts, investors, as well as domestic and foreign media.

During the conference, the state of the world market of transport services, the geography and dynamics of cargo flows, the possibility of increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of all modes of transport, the role of road and air transport in improving the efficiency of the transport and transit potential of Turkmenistan in the context of Eurasian integration and the trend to diversify the geography of international transportation, risk control and accounting of logistics costs, etc., were discussed.

Within the framework of the forum, the third meeting of the Working Committee “Agreements on the establishment of an international transport and transit corridor between the Governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the State of Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan” (Ashgabat Agreement) and the first working meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) on transport corridors Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran and Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Turkey took place.

On July 23rd, the seventh session of the Halk Maslakhaty Milli Gengesh of Turkmenistan of the first convocation was held, at which the Laws adopted on July 16th during the nineteenth meeting of the Mejlis Milli Gengesh were approved. These legal documents have been developed in accordance with the priorities of the socially oriented policy of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and a comprehensive program to modernize the legislative and legal framework of the state.

In general, the events of the past week reaffirmed the commitment of Turkmenistan to strong mutually beneficial international partnerships, as well as the constructiveness of the initiatives of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov put forward in the interests of all mankind, which acts as a factor not only in increasing the international authority of the Fatherland, but also in the progressive development of cooperation built on principles of mutual understanding and respect.