On December 20, 2017, the second meeting of the Joint Committee on Cooperation between Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, in which a delegation from the United Arab Emirates headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahayan.
At the beginning of the meeting, the sides summed up the results of the joint work done, reports were heard on the implementation of the agreements reached during the first meeting of the Joint Committee in Abu Dhabi on November 7, 2012. It was noted that Turkmenistan and the UAE had done a big job in implementing the adopted decisions, and also stressed the need for further joint efforts to fulfill the remaining tasks.
The meeting participants paid much attention to the issues of cooperation in the trade-economic, fuel-energy, transport-communication, banking-financial, cultural-humanitarian spheres. The participants noted with satisfaction the positive growth of trade and economic relations.
Also, noting the existing great potential in cooperation on processing natural gas, obtaining finished products from gas and supplying them to world markets, the parties discussed the development of bilateral cooperation in this area.
The parties agreed to establish a working group on cooperation in the field of science, education and culture within the framework of the Committee and to hold the first meeting of this group in Ashgabat. In addition, issues of cooperation in the field of tourism, hydrometeorology and seismology, environmental protection were discussed.
At the end of the meeting of the Joint Committee on Cooperation between Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates the Protocol was signed. Another document – Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Government of Turkmenistan and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development has been also signed. The parties agreed to hold the next third meeting of the Joint Committee on Cooperation between Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates in 2018 in the city of Abu Dhabi.
Within the framework of the meeting, bilateral meetings of the representatives of the UAE delegation with the leaders and representatives of the ministries and private structures of Turkmenistan were held, at which the prospects for cooperation and plans for further interaction were outlined.
