Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov will take part in the "Central Asia – USA" ("C5+1") Ministerial meeting in Tashkent, which will be held on February 3 in Tashkent. Preparations for it were reported at a meeting of the country's Cabinet of Ministers.
According to the press service of the US foreign Ministry, the American side will be represented at the meeting by Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who is expected to confirm the support of the United States for the countries of the region in accordance with the new strategy for Central Asia.
The agenda of the upcoming meeting in the capital of Uzbekistan will include issues of regional partnership development in a number of priority areas. These include the economy and energy, countering dangerous threats and challenges of our time, such as terrorism, illicit drug trafficking, cross-border crime and human trafficking.
The subject of the interested discussion will also be the combination of efforts to help resolve the situation in Afghanistan, its socio-economic revival, and its connection to the energy, transport, and trade systems of Central Asia. Following the meeting, it is planned to adopt a corresponding joint document.
Speaking at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted the importance of the upcoming meeting in the "C5+1" format. The Turkmen leader stressed the need to use all available opportunities to strengthen and expand fruitful cooperation between the Central Asian countries and the United States, which meets the common interests.
As for the Turkmen-American relations, the leader of the nation stated that the interstate dialogue is traditionally equal, constructive, progressive and has great potential for further successful development, the state news Agency of Turkmenistan reports.
The C5+1 format is a multilateral mechanism of interaction between the five Central Asian countries and the United States. The main topics of the dialogue are economic development, regional cooperation and security. The first meeting with the participation of the foreign Ministers of the six countries was held on November 1, 2015 in Samarkand. And last year, such a meeting was held in Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan).
