WORKING VISIT OF PRESIDENT GURBANGULY BERDIMUHAMEDOV TO THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

On June 23, 2016 President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov left for a working visit to the Republic of Uzbekistan to participate as guest of honor at the meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Half an hour later the President’s aircraft arrived in Tashkent Airport, where the distinguished guest was received by the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and other officials. From the airport the motorcade of President of Turkmenistan proceeded to the state residence "Kuksaroy".

Here, in the state residence "Kuksaroy", President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov had a meeting with President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping.

 Cordially greeting each other, and expressed satisfaction with the possibility of a new meeting, held at the sidelines of the Tashkent SCO summit, the two leaders noted the high level of Turkmen-Chinese cooperation, its fruitfulness and great prospects for development. The heads of Turkmenistan and China exchanged views on the key areas of strategic cooperation, confirmed mutual readiness to further enhance economic partnership in view of its enormous potential, national interests and a common vision for the future of the Asian region.

Then there was a meeting between President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov.

Thanking his Uzbek counterpart for the invitation to visit Tashkent to participate in the Jubilee Summit of Heads of the SCO Member States, the President of Turkmenistan expressed his confidence in the success of this important event, chaired by Uzbekistan. In turn, the head of the Republic of Uzbekistan, noting that he was very glad to accept the Turkmen leader in Tashkent, welcomed the opportunity to discuss with President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov prospects of further expansion of bilateral relations, strengthen and consistently filled with new content.

In the afternoon, in the state residence "Kuksaroy" President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov met with President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.

Highly appreciating the Turkmen-Afghan dialogue, successfully developing both in bilateral and multilateral formats, in the framework of the authoritative regional and international organizations, the two leaders reaffirmed the mutual desire of neighbors to further enhance mutually beneficial cooperation in the context of previous agreements and opening new perspectives.

Specifying the priority areas of bilateral cooperation, one of which is the fuel and energy sphere, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Mohammad Ashraf Ghani paid special attention to the practical implementation of the project of construction of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.

The same evening, President of Turkmenistan, together with other heads of states and delegations who arrived in Tashkent to attend the SCO summit, visited the Palace of international forums, where a concert of masters of culture and arts of Uzbekistan was given for the distinguished guests.

Working visit of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the Republic of Uzbekistan continues.