On September 27, 2016 the Turkmen-Swiss political consultations were held in Bern. The delegation of Turkmenistan was headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan; the Swiss side was headed by Ambassador Nicolas Brühl, Assistant State Secretary, and Head of the Department for Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation.
According to the agenda of the consultations, the sides discussed questions on three sections: bilateral relations, regional issues and multilateral policies of the two countries. The sides reviewed issues of bilateral cooperation across the spectrum of relationships, with a particular focus on political, trade and economic component.
Noting the high level of political-diplomatic cooperation, the sides discussed further expansion of cooperation in this direction. In this context, they noted the role of visits at the highest levels and the commitment of the parties the further implementation of the reached agreements. The parties also agreed on the organization of political consultations on a regular basis between Turkmenistan and the Swiss Confederation, as well as expansion of the bilateral legal base.
Speaking about trade and economic cooperation, the parties discussed the possibility of collaborative contacts given output relations in this direction to a qualitatively new level. In this regard, the parties noted the need to hold the Turkmen-Swiss business forum in Ashgabat in 2017. It was stressed the desire of business circles of the two countries to interact and deepen cooperation on a wide range of areas. The parties also noted the importance of establishing an Intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, which would be an effective tool to organize and support the development of bilateral relations.
During the consultations there was an exchange of views on regional and international issues of consolidating efforts in the fight against common challenges and threats. The parties discussed the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. In this regard, the Turkmen side reported a progressive and systematic approach to this task and gave as an example the fact that in Turkmenistan the indicators of implementation of the SDGs at the national level were determined. The sides expressed satisfaction with the current state of cooperation between the two countries and stressed the importance of regular meetings at various levels to continue to deepen mutually beneficial relations.
