THE STATE VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF TURKMENISTAN TO THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

On January 5-6, 2023, the state visit of the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov to the People's Republic of China took place.

It should be noted that this is the first foreign visit of the head of state this year, which coincided with the significant date marked on January 6 - the 31st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and China.

On January 6, in the first half of the day, negotiations were held in Beijing between President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping.

Then a meeting was held in an expanded format - with the participation of members of the official delegations of the two countries.

It was noted that relations between Turkmenistan and China have a long history, throughout which a beneficial process of mutual knowledge, connectivity of cultures, traditions, worldviews took place between the two peoples.

It was also noted that presently China's initiative "One Belt, One Road" is actively linked with the strategy of Turkmenistan "Revival of the Great Silk Road". In modern conditions, the presence of objective mutual interests allows Turkmenistan and China to successfully build up partnership in the context of the implementation of these concepts. They are designed to give an impetus to economic development in Eurasia, uniting the vast expanse from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans on modern principles, forming interconnected production and technological cycles and industrial belts, contributing to the solution of many social problems, improving the quality of life and the well-being of peoples.

The President of Turkmenistan stressed that the fuel and energy sector is the most important priority for cooperation between Turkmenistan and China, since our states have great potential in this sphere.

The head of the Turkmen state further noted that today the parties are working on increasing the volume of gas supplies from Turkmenistan to China, taking into account the growing needs of the Chinese economy and the possibilities of the resource base of Turkmenistan. In this regard, the process of substantive discussion of the project for the construction of the fourth line of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline is underway.

Currently, Turkmenistan, together with partners, is creating an extensive network of transport, transit and logistics infrastructure of a combined type along the East-West and North-South lines. In the future, it will include transit corridors leading to the regions of the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea basin, and the Baltic. This opens up an optimal land route to the European and Middle Eastern markets through Central Asia from the Asia-Pacific region.

During the talks, the heads of the two states exchanged views on a wide range of issues of Turkmen-Chinese relations, multifaceted interstate cooperation built on a long-term, mutually beneficial basis, and also discussed topical issues on the international and regional agenda of mutual interest.

President Serdar Berdimuhamedov invited President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping to pay a state visit to Turkmenistan at any convenient time.

The invitation was gratefully accepted. The dates of the visit will be agreed through diplomatic channels.

The meeting continued then in narrow format.

Following the talks, the ceremony of signing bilateral documents took place.

During the visit, representatives of the Government delegation of our country held talks with members of the joint intergovernmental committee on cooperation from the Chinese side.

The main topic of discussion was concrete steps to diversify mutually beneficial partnerships in a wide range of areas, and bring it to a qualitatively new level that meets mutual interests as soon as possible.

On the same day, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov held meetings with Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China Li Zhanshu.

On the same day, members of the official delegation of our country met with Turkmen students studying at universities in China.

In the second half of the day, the President of Turkmenistan visited the National Museum of China, where he viewed the unique exposition of the world's largest museum, created in order to preserve and popularize the richest art and the millennia-old history of the Chinese people.