China and Turkmenistan should expand the scale of cooperation in the natural gas sector, and elevate trade and investment levels, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in Beijing on Wednesday.
Xi made the remarks when meeting with National Leader of the Turkmen People and Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, adding that the two sides should expand cooperation in non-resource fields, including connectivity, agriculture, artificial intelligence, digital economy and clean energy.
China’s “two sessions” were successfully held not long ago, during which the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development was approved, Xi said.
He also stated that the implementation of this outline will lay a solid foundation for China towards basically achieving socialist modernization, which benefits countries around the world.
Over the past 35 years since its independence, Turkmenistan has forged an independent development path suited to its national conditions, Xi said.
At the beginning of the Year of the Horse, China stands ready to discuss cooperation and share development opportunities with Turkmenistan to promote the building of the China-Turkmenistan community with a shared future, he said.
Both sides should accelerate the alignment between the Belt and Road Initiative and Turkmenistan’s development strategy, he said, calling on both sides to accelerate the progress of establishing Luban Workshops, traditional Chinese medicine centers and cultural centers.
For his part, National Leader of the Turkmen People and Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov extended his congratulations on China’s successful “two sessions,” which makes important decisions and arrangements for the development of various initiatives.
Turkmenistan is ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China in multilateral platforms such as the United Nations and the China-Central Asia mechanism to jointly safeguard peace and stability of the region and the world at large, National Leader of the Turkmen People said.