On October 18, 2023, the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who is on a working visit to the People's Republic of China, took part in the Third High-Level Forum “One Belt, One Road”.
Delegates to the large-scale event were representatives of more than 140 countries and 30 authoritative organizations, including government leaders, heads of international organizations, ministries and business circles.
President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech dedicated to China's trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, the goals and objectives of effective and fruitful international cooperation within the framework of the "One Belt, One Road" project. As noted, the principles of joint consultation, construction and use, as well as openness, environmental friendliness, integrity, high standards, people's welfare and sustainable development have become important in the high-quality joint formation of this concept.
As the speakers emphasized, the current forum is taking place under the sign of the tenth anniversary of the initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping - a truly important, global, future-oriented one, aimed at creating a more equitable multipolar world and system of relations. Particular emphasis was placed on the fact that time has proven the relevance of this strategy, which today is considered a grandiose project on a global scale.
In his speech, Arkadag noted that holding this meeting is a highly relevant and in demand event. Recent realities - a pandemic, increasing instability, decreasing trust and predictability - have negatively affected global economic activity, led to problems in interconnectedness, and reduced the degree of effectiveness of the implementation of plans and programs in the field of sustainable development.
To overcome these negative factors, it is necessary to unite the efforts of states and international institutions, their solidarity in establishing a creative and constructive agenda based on goodwill, responsibility and foresight, noted the National Leader of the Turkmen people.
From this point of view, as emphasized, the content of the Turkmen strategy “Revival of the Great Silk Road” meets Turkmenistan’s ideas about the future of the geo-economic landscape of Eurasia, and also corresponds to China’s strategy “One Belt, One Road”, where the main principles are equality, consideration and recognition of interests partners, mutual benefit, respect for the diversity of cultural and spiritual values. Important elements of the Turkmen approach are the depoliticization of cooperation, moving away from the one-sidedness of energy and transport flows in favor of their diversification and accessibility for broad international participation.
Reliance on the rich historical experience of friendship and good neighborliness between the Turkmen and Chinese peoples, the presence today of objective mutual interests allow Turkmenistan and China to successfully build up their partnership in the context of the implementation of these two strategies, their compatibility and mutual complementarity. Particular emphasis was placed on the fact that they are designed to give a powerful stimulus to economic development in Eurasia, uniting spaces from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean on modern criteria, forming interconnected production and technological cycles and industrial belts, helping to solve many social problems and improve the quality of life and the well-being of peoples.
The Turkmen-Chinese energy partnership was named as a striking example of this approach. In particular, the commissioning of a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China in 2009 marked the beginning of the formation of a new architecture of relations in the energy sector on the continent and opened up prospects for other states to join the project on a mutually beneficial and equal basis. The same logic is followed by the implementation of another major international project - the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
Another important area is transport, said Chairman Halk Maslahaty, noting that our country, together with its partners, is currently creating an extensive network of transport and logistics infrastructure of a combined type along the East-West and North-South lines, which in the future will include transit corridors overlooking the regions of the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea basin, and the Baltic. In particular, we are talking about a transport corridor from China through the territory of Central Asia to the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea, as well as to Iran, the Near and Middle East, which can also be used in the opposite direction - to the Asia-Pacific region, the countries of South Asia.
Coordinated transport diplomacy aimed at consolidating common efforts in improving the efficiency of international corridors and logistics systems is becoming increasingly relevant. In this context, it was noted that Turkmenistan, being one of the initiators of the global dialogue in the field of sustainable transport, has been taking consistent practical steps in this direction for many years.
One of the priority tasks of our country’s international cooperation is to achieve a reasonable balance between production activities and environmental protection, ensuring environmental safety. Our understanding of the essence and meaning of the Green Silk Road is based on this.
Interconnectedness in the economy, international exchange of technologies, experience, skills and techniques are objective trends in global development. They involve closer cooperation in production, the creation of integrated technological and digital platforms, and joint communication systems.
All this, noted the National Leader of the Turkmen people, is designed to form a holistic and sustainable logistics of cooperation on a global scale.
Today, in our opinion, the concept of political logistics is in demand, Arkadag continued, emphasizing that he views it as a multi-level system of interaction between states that share ideas and prospects for economic development and cooperation, free from politicization and ideological clichés, based on equality, mutual respect and consideration of interests each other.
In conclusion, the National Leader of the Turkmen people expressed confidence that the current representative and authoritative forum, which brought together envoys from dozens of states with enormous potential, is capable of giving the necessary impetus to this process and achieving the set goals.
As a result of the Third High-Level Forum "One Belt, One Road", the following were adopted: Beijing Initiative to Deepen Cooperation in the Field of Interconnectivity, Beijing Belt and Road Initiative International Cooperation in the Field of Digital Economy, Beijing Belt and Road Green Development Initiative, Initiative on the foundations of international trade and economic cooperation for the digital economy and green development.
A Memorandum of Cooperation was also signed on the joint implementation of the Action Plan for the development of green science and technology in the Central Asian region.
