Under the chairmanship of the co-Chair of the Turkmen part of the Committee, the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and the co-Chair of the Chinese part of the Committee, Member of Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the Senior Vice Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Han Zheng the regular fifth meeting of Turkmenistan-China Committee on Cooperation was held.
During the meeting the sides exchanged views on the current agenda of cooperation between the two countries in political-diplomatic, trade-economic and cultural-humanitarian spheres, as well as on the issues of the expansion of the spheres of interaction. It was noted that in the result of the important bilateral events, held since the beginning of the year, an impetus was given to further development of strategic partnership between Turkmenistan and China.
In the course of the meeting the parties noted fruitful interaction of Turkmenistan and the PRC in the framework of multilateral diplomacy, primarily in the UN and other reputable international organizations. In addition, the sides stated effective collaboration of the countries within “China + Central Asia” format.
As the head of Turkmenistan delegation S. Berdimuhamedov underlined, in the context of the decision of the tasks put by the Leaders of the two countries on further activation of Turkmen-Chinese partnership, it is important to note the perspective of bilateral cooperation in such fields as the digital economy, financial-banking sector, “green” low carbon development, transport and logistics, communication networks, chemical industry, agriculture, introduction of energy and water saving technologies and others.
Traditionally main spheres of bilateral partnership in the trade-economic field are energetics, transport and trade.
The parties noted that with the aim of strengthening cooperation in transport-communications sphere between Turkmenistan and the PRC, as well as for the acceleration of the work to align development strategies of the “Revival of the Great Silk Road” with the initiative “One Belt, One Road”, the most important factor of the ensuring economic development of the two countries is effective functioning of the transport and logistics.
In the course of the fifth meeting of Turkmenistan-China Committee on Cooperation the sides also discussed the issues of the implementation of the agreements in the oil-and-gas sphere, in particular, the issues connected with the export of Turkmen natural gas to China.
It was noted as the important direction of Turkmen-Chinese partnership the further strengthening and development of the exchange and cooperation in cultural-humanitarian sphere, deepening mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of the two countries. The priority aspects of interaction are scientific and educational projects, and also cooperation in the field of medicine and health service, in high technology sphere.
Following the results of the meeting and with the aim of strengthening the legal framework the package of international documents was signed.
They are the following:
- Protocol of the Fifth meeting of Turkmenistan-China Committee on Cooperation;
- Cooperation Program between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the People’s Republic of China for 5 years (2021-2025);
- Agreement between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on Cooperation in the field of international cybersecurity;
- Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the issues of provision the biological security;
- Program of Cooperation on the expansion of economic partnership between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the People’s Republic of China.
A meeting was held on the issues of Turkmen-Chinese cooperation in the sphere of gas