On October 14, 2024, the Third meeting of the Turkmen-Chinese working group on investment cooperation was held in Ashgabat.
At the meeting, the Turkmen part of the working group was headed by the head of the Consolidated Department of Public Finance and Economic Policy of the Ministry of Finance and Economy Galina Romanova, the Chinese part was headed by the deputy head of the Department of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China Yang Hao.
Turkmenistan was represented at the meeting by specialists from the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Central Bank, the Bank for Foreign Economic activities, the Ministries of Industry and Construction, Textile Industry, Energy, Agriculture, Environmental Protection, the state concerns Turkmennebit, Turkmengaz, Turkmenhimiya, the state corporation Turkmengeology, divisions of the Agency for Transport and Communications, state associations of livestock and poultry farming, food industry, grain products, as well as the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
The Chinese side was represented by officials from the Ministry of Commerce and regional departments for investment management and foreign trade, the Export-Import Bank of China, the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Mechanical Engineering and Electronic Products, top managers of a number of companies specializing in industrial engineering, computer technology, oilfield and chemical equipment, CNPC Corporation and its branches in Turkmenistan, as well as Huawei Technologies.
During the meeting, the implementation of the agreements reached between President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping during the Central Asia-China Summit in May 2023 was analyzed, and key areas for further cooperation were identified.
It was decided to actively study and stimulate the expansion of the scale of mutual investments, strengthen the role of the working group and other mechanisms of interaction in key areas.
The Turkmen side acquainted the Chinese participants of the meeting with specific measures taken to improve the investment climate and business conditions in the country, progress in the process of joining the World Trade Organization and the latest assessment studies of the international rating agency “Fitch ratings”.
The Chinese delegation reported on the work done on important projects in the oil and gas sector, transport and chemical industry.
During the talks, mutual readiness was confirmed to deepen cooperation in traditional areas of cooperation, such as energy resources and infrastructure, as well as to identify the potential for partnership in the areas of new energy, green minerals, and to create new growth points.
Representatives of the business circles of both parties – enterprises, industry organizations, financial institutions, held an in-depth exchange of views on activating investment relations in the industrial sector and agreed to continue work on improving interaction mechanisms.