Today, the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, at the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, arrived in St. Petersburg on a working visit to participate in an informal meeting of the CIS heads of state.

As reports Turkmenportal, the head of Turkmenistan was met at the Pulkovo airport by the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov and other officials.

From the airport, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov went to the Konstantinovsky palace for a meeting of the CIS heads of state, which, according to the Kremlin press service, was also attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Opening the informal summit, the President of the Russian Federation expressed gratitude to the heads of state for accepting the invitation and coming to St. Petersburg today. He also stressed that the informal meetings of the CIS leaders in the northern capital of Russia are becoming a good tradition and permit in a calm, friendly atmosphere to exchange views on the most pressing issues for all our countries.

“Today we have the opportunity to compare watches before the annual full-scale meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State next week in Astana. On its agenda, Kazakhstan's chairmanship puts really important topics of integration cooperation in politics, economics, and the humanitarian sphere. As usual, a solid package of joint documents is being prepared for approval”, - Putin said.

The President of the Russian Federation noted that last year Russia's trade with the CIS countries increased by more than 30 percent, to 96 billion USD, and in the first half of this year it grew by another seven percent.

Vladimir Putin expressed confidence that such positive trends would permit a more energetic transition to national currencies in mutual settlements between the Commonwealth countries.
In the course of a further exchange of views, the leaders of the CIS countries discussed the priority areas of the Organization's activities, plans to strengthen and further develop mutually beneficial cooperation.

The current informal meeting of the leaders of the CIS countries in St. Petersburg coincided with the 70th anniversary of the President of the Russian Federation.

President Serdar Berdimuhamedov congratulated Vladimir Putin on his anniversary, noting his contribution to strengthening the strategic partnership between Turkmenistan and Russia.

Upon completion of the program of the working visit, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov proceeded to Pulkovo International Airport, from where he departed for his homeland.