On May 22, 2024, the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov received the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States Sergei Lebedev, who arrived in our country to participate in the upcoming regular meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS.

Welcoming the guest to the hospitable Turkmen land on the eve of an important event - a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS, the head of state emphasized that our country, together with the CIS Executive Committee, had done a lot of preparatory work to organize the meeting at a high level.

Expressing the conviction that the upcoming meeting will provide a good opportunity to discuss the main directions and prospects for cooperation within the CIS, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov stated that cooperation in the fields of the Commonwealth of Independent States is one of the priority aspects of the foreign policy strategy of neutral Turkmenistan.

It was emphasized that the main areas of joint activity include the use of existing opportunities in the fields of economics and trade, energy, transport, communications and telecommunications, strengthening relations in the scientific, educational, cultural and sports fields.

In this context, the President of Turkmenistan stated that at the upcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of Government, on the initiative of our country, it is planned to consider the draft Decision on declaring Ashgabat the City of New Sports Opportunities of the Commonwealth, expressing confidence that the adoption of this document will serve to further strengthen friendly ties.

In turn, the CIS Secretary General noted that Ashgabat has all the necessary infrastructure for organizing international sporting events at a high level and that the country has become a center of world-class sporting competitions.

Noting that Turkmenistan intends to continue to fully strengthen this constructive dialogue to achieve positive results that will become a significant contribution to strengthening friendship and good neighborliness between the CIS countries, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov thanked the CIS Secretary General Sergei Lebedev and all members of the CIS Executive Committee for the joint work done and effective coordination of interaction within the Commonwealth.

At the end of the meeting, the head of Turkmenistan and his guest exchanged best wishes to each other, expressing confidence that the fruitful partnership in the CIS format, based on the accumulated many years of experience, will continue to develop successfully, filling it with new specific content.