President Serdar Berdimuhamedov paid a working visit to the Russian Federation, where he took part in an informal summit of the heads of countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, TDH reports.
The next summit was also attended by the Prime Minister of Armenia and the presidents of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Before the meeting, the heads of the CIS member countries visited the sights of St. Petersburg in accordance with the program of their stay. In particular, they visited the museum-reserves Pavlovsk, Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof.
In the afternoon, an informal summit took place at the Congress Palace State Complex.
Opening the meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the participants and thanked them for accepting the invitation to visit St. Petersburg to participate in the informal pre-New Year summit.
In his speech, he briefly summed up the work for the current year and identified the key areas of joint CIS activities for the near future.
Overall, 2023 was a fruitful and productive year for the Commonwealth. As noted, all planned events were successfully carried out, and the agreements reached are designed to facilitate the further expansion of cooperation between the participating countries in all areas.
Key issues on the international agenda of mutual interest were also discussed.
It should be noted that an important factor in the successful activities of the CIS is that all member countries are committed to the fundamental principles of the organization laid down during its creation. Over the past years, the CIS states have consistently developed cooperation on the basis of goodwill, equality and trust.
The current meeting once again demonstrated the desire of the countries of the region to expand the traditionally fruitful dialogue and give it a more comprehensive and intensive character. This takes into account the accumulated positive experience of working together and the economic potential of all parties.
During the summit, the importance of giving the traditional partnership a new quality, based on common goals and objectives, was emphasized. The need to create mechanisms for systemic consultations between the CIS countries was also noted.
Discussing the priorities of cooperation for the near and long term, the leaders expressed confidence that the decisions and agreements adopted this year will contribute to the deepening of interstate relations in the interests of the peoples of the CIS.
In general, the current informal meeting has become another confirmation of the intention of the Commonwealth countries to continue to build cooperation in the spirit of strategic partnership and mutual benefit.
At the end of the visit, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov departed for his homeland from Pulkovo Airport.
