Today, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, as an honorary guest, took part in the unofficial summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States (Turkic Council), held via the digital system.
This international organization was established in October 2009. Currently, the members of the Turkic Council are the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Turkish Republic. Hungary has observer status in this organization.
It is noteworthy that the head of Turkmenistan has repeatedly participated in the forums of the Turkic Council held at the highest level. This actually confirms the proactive position of our country in matters of interaction with regional and international structures, the optimal implementation of existing opportunities for building up effective trade, economic, humanitarian and cultural ties in the vast geographic space occupied by the Turkic-speaking states on the Eurasian continent.
The current summit was attended by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Elbasy, Honorary Chairman of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban, Secretary General of the Turkic Council Baghdad Amreev.
The agenda of the forum included issues of expanding and strengthening a multifaceted interstate partnership that meets the interests of common prosperity and sustainable development.
Addressing the summit participants, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov reaffirmed Turkmenistan's commitment to broad constructive partnership at the interstate level, in the regional and international format.
Addressing the heads of the Turkic-speaking states, the leader of the nation expressed his sincere gratitude to them for the desire to build up friendly cooperation with Turkmenistan, the support provided to our country in the international arena, in particular, within the UN, as well as for regular assistance in the implementation of its peaceful foreign policy, based on thoughtful internal policy.
“This phenomenon, characteristic of our peoples, their national mentality, is based on the principles of friendship, brotherhood, mutual assistance and solidarity,” Berdymukhamedov stressed.
Further, the head of Turkmenistan focused the attention of the summit participants on some issues of international importance.
Outlining one of the urgent tasks of our time to ensure global energy security, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that, realizing the need for equitable and fair use of world energy resources, our country stands for the formation of a reliable and stable system of their supply to world markets, taking into account the interests of the parties concerned.
In this context, Turkmenistan proposed, within the framework of international organizations, especially at the level of the United Nations, to establish negotiation processes on global energy security. The relevant resolutions developed in this area have found broad support from the UN General Assembly. The Turkmen side invites states interested in creating a system of universal energy security to take an active part in this matter.
"Turkmenistan will continue to make efforts in this direction, and for this purpose it will carry out constructive international cooperation to bring oil and gas resources and electricity to world markets," the leader of the nation emphasized, expressing confidence that it would be very beneficial for all countries, including number for the Turkic-speaking states.
Designating the transport and communication sphere as one of the strategic areas of the economy, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stated that the Turkic-speaking countries have enormous potential for joint implementation of effective measures in this sector.
As the head of state noted, Turkmenistan has taken steps to modernize its modern transport and communication system and form transport and transit corridors at the international and regional levels, which will allow consolidating the efforts of the international community.
Prior to that, the UN General Assembly, on the initiative of our country and with the support of the participating states of this summit, adopted three resolutions in the field of development of all types of transport. In order to translate these constructive-oriented international documents into a practical plane, a lot of work is being done today to create global transport and transit corridors.
In this regard, the leader of the nation expressed confidence that the fraternal Turkic-speaking states will take an active part in joint work aimed at the further development of international transport support systems.
Among the priorities of the international activities of Turkmenistan are also the sphere of ecology and environmental protection, which at the present time is an urgent problem of society and life. As for the Central Asian region, the priority attention is given to the difficult situation with the Aral Sea.
Continuing the topic, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that this environmental disaster directly affects the life and health of peoples living in the Aral Sea region and other countries. Therefore, the elimination of this disaster and its negative impact is urgent.
Turkmenistan conducts its activities in the field of ecology and environmental protection actively, at the global level. Our country was the author of the General Assembly Resolution “On cooperation between the United Nations and the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea”, and also put forward an initiative to develop a UN Special Program for the countries of the Aral Sea Basin. Currently, Turkmenistan is closely cooperating in this area with the world community, primarily with the United Nations.
“I am convinced that these necessary measures will contribute to further building up interaction between our countries,” the Turkmen leader said, also calling on all parties to actively participate in the implementation of the above documents.
In this regard, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov expressed firm confidence that the purpose of the work carried out in the above three directions and strategic vectors of international partnership will be reflected in the documents aimed at developing relations between the Turkic-speaking countries.
The head of Turkmenistan also stressed that a huge role in friendly and fraternal relations between the countries participating in the summit is assigned to culture, science and education, because a single spiritual and cultural heritage and common values serve as a solid foundation for strengthening and building up interstate ties.
In this context, the leader of the nation spoke about the expediency of expanding the range of programs and projects carried out within the framework of TURKSOY, suggesting that appropriate work should be carried out to disseminate and popularize the works of famous poets and prose writers, outstanding figures of culture and art of the forum participants in the world.
Currently, preparations have begun in Turkmenistan for the celebration in 2024 of the 300th anniversary of the outstanding Turkmen classic poet Mahtumkuli Fragi. In this work, great importance is attached to international cooperation, in particular, joint activities with Turkic-speaking countries. Summarizing the above, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov expressed confidence in the need to further intensify the interaction of the countries participating in the summit in the field of culture.
Continuing his speech, the head of Turkmenistan drew the attention of his foreign colleagues to another important issue - a pandemic of a new type of coronavirus, which has become a difficult test and poses a serious threat to the whole world, to overcome which enormous efforts of the entire world community are needed. Our country was among the first to take comprehensive measures to prevent the penetration of COVID-19 into its territory.
At the same time, Turkmenistan put forward international initiatives aimed at developing joint and coordinated solutions to counter the spread of this infection, and also actively participated in the implementation of specific targeted measures in the region. In addition, our country is a supporter of the consolidation of the efforts and potential of all states in the fight against modern challenges and threats. As the leader of the nation noted, the
Turkic-speaking countries have accumulated some experience in joint work in this direction.
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stressed that it would be very correct if, in the future, medical institutions and research institutes of the countries participating in the summit, shoulder to shoulder, together with the world community, would work to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Concluding his speech, the head of Turkmenistan expressed firm confidence that the current summit and the issues discussed during it will contribute to further building up equal and mutually beneficial partnership, as well as friendly and fraternal relations between states and peoples.
In their speeches, the heads of states participating in the forum noted the importance of the summit in the context of enhancing cooperation between the countries of the region, sharing experience, voiced important initiatives on issues related to ensuring general security and stability, sustainable development of the economies of partner countries.
The summit participants expressed the interest of the Turkic states in expanding multi-vector cooperation with Turkmenistan geographically advantageously located in Central Asia, the State News Agency reported.
