On October 25-26, 2023, the official visit of the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov to the Republic of Türkiye took place.
At the Ankara airport, the Head of state was met by the Minister of energy and natural resources of Türkiye Alparslan Bayraktar, other officials, as well as a group of representatives of Turkish business circles. During the conversation between the President of Turkmenistan and the minister of energy and natural Resources of Türkiye, the high level of Turkmen-Turkish relations was stated.
On October 26, before the start of the summit talks, the President of Turkmenistan proceeded to the Mausoleum of the founder and first President of the Republic of Türkiye Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Anitkabir), where he took part in a flower-laying ceremony.
Following this, the Head of the Turkmen state visited the Turkmenistan park, during which a wreath was laid at the monument to the classic of Turkmen literature, the great poet and thinker of the East Magtymguly Fragi.
In the afternoon, an official welcoming ceremony for the distinguished guest took place at the residence of the Republic of Türkiye - Aksaray Palace.
After the official welcoming ceremony, bilateral negotiations were held at the highest level in a one-on-one format and negotiations in an expanded format, with the participation of members of the official delegations of the two countries.
During the meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized that the visit of the head of Turkmenistan to his country is regarded as an important event in the history of interstate dialogue, based on long-standing good traditions, unbreakable bonds of friendship and brotherhood.
Confirming Turkey’s commitment to a full-scale, strategic partnership with our country, the Turkish leader also noted the enormous personal contribution to the successful development of bilateral relations of the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and conveyed cordial greetings and best wishes to Arkadag.
President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, in turn, expressed gratitude to the Turkish leader for the great efforts being made aimed at progressively building up friendly interstate ties.
Along with this, the head of Turkmenistan conveyed warm words of greetings and best wishes from the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the President of the Republic of Türkiye.
As President Serdar Berdimuhamedov further emphasized, relations between our countries, which are successfully developing in the political-diplomatic, trade-economic and cultural-humanitarian spheres, are consistent and are systematically strengthened taking into account modern realities and the requirements of the time.
It was also noted that by closely interacting on the world stage, Turkmenistan and Türkiye demonstrate similar or largely similar positions on current regional and global issues.
President Serdar Berdimuhamedov confirmed the readiness of the Turkmen side to further develop trade and economic cooperation in such promising areas as energy, transport, investment, high technology, as well as to launch new forms of partnership and increase mutual trade turnover.
Noting the fruitful nature of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, the head of the Turkmen state emphasized that the common cultural heritage, spiritual and moral values, traditions and customs of our peoples serve as a solid foundation for the intensification of bilateral interaction. At the same time, Turkmenistan aims to further develop these long-term contacts and take them to a new level, including in the fields of education, science, culture, healthcare and sports.
In this regard, the President of Turkmenistan expressed confidence that his first official visit to Turkey will open new perspectives in terms of assessing the current state of interstate relations and their progressive development in the future.
Continuing the negotiations, the heads of the two states exchanged views on a wide range of issues of Turkmen-Turkish interaction. Having specified the key vectors of cooperation at its current stage and in the context of long-term plans for the future, Presidents Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed the mutual intention of Turkmenistan and Türkiye to deepen and expand a productive partnership.
The parties also exchanged views on a number of topical issues of regional and international politics of mutual interest.
During the meeting in an expanded format, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan highly appreciated the interstate relations, which are dynamically developing in all areas, both in bilateral and multilateral formats. It was noted that great credit for this also belongs to Arkadag Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
President Serdar Berdimuhamedov noted that our countries interact constructively in the international arena, primarily within the UN, as well as other authoritative structures - the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Organization of Turkic States, the Organization of Economic Cooperation.
In this context, emphasizing the exceptional role of the UN, the head of Turkmen state informed about Turkmenistan’s initiative to develop a Global Security Strategy, put forward at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
In this regard, the expediency of, firstly, the use of preventive measures to prevent conflict situations, especially at the stage of their inception, was noted; secondly, maximum use of the potential of neutrality mechanisms; thirdly, the revival of a culture of dialogue based on trust.
As part of the discussion of issues of trade and economic cooperation, the President of Turkmenistan spoke about the need to intensify partnerships in trade, energy, transport and communications, industrial, agricultural fields, in the field of high technologies, through industrial cooperation, business ties, and contacts in other areas. This plan noted the readiness of the Turkmen side to intensify interaction and expand it with specific projects.
Focusing on the development of energy partnership, the relevance of the issue of supplies of Turkmen natural gas and electricity to Turkey was emphasized.
The sphere of transport and logistics is also designated as one of the priority areas of partnership, where in order to expand cooperation it is necessary to maximize the potential of transport routes and corridors. Here, transport corridors in the directions Afghanistan–Turkmenistan–Azerbaijan–Georgia– Türkiye, Central Asia–Middle East, as well as the Caspian Sea–Black Sea offer great opportunities. In addition, there is an opportunity to increase the efficiency of using the infrastructure potential of the Turkmenbashi International Seaport and the Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan–Iran railway.
Stressing that Turkmenistan intends to expand contacts with Turkey in various sectors of the economy, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov spoke about the feasibility of increasing cooperation in investments, the gas chemical industry, the agro-industrial complex, in the field of environmental protection, new generation technologies, tourism, business, and other relevant areas.
At the end of the meeting, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov invited President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pay an official visit to Turkmenistan at any time convenient for him.
