Today.Az » Politics » Baku, Ashgabat highlight ample opportunities available to develop bilateral interaction
09 August 2017 [10:19] - Today.Az


By Azernews


By Amina Nazarli

Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, which are neighbors on the Caspian Sea, have exchanged views on a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation, as Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has paid a visit to Baku.

During the two-day visit, President Berdimuhamedov plans to focus on working out mechanisms for intensifying and diversifying trade and economic relations between the two countries.

President Ilham Aliyev, welcoming President Berdimuhamedov in Baku on August 8, said that peoples of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are bound by history.

“We have lived together for centuries, we have been friends, and we have lived as brothers. Today we are successfully developing as two independent states,” said President Aliyev at the one-on-one meeting.

President Aliyev said that the visit of the Turkmen leader will bring new dynamics to the relations between the two countries. “We have very successful cooperation in a number of areas and this cooperation will deepen.”

“We attach great importance to your visit. I am sure that your visit will be a very important step in the development of Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan relations of friendship and brotherhood,” noted the head of state.

The Azerbaijani president said there are very good opportunities for development and cooperation in political, economic, humanitarian, cultural, transportation and other spheres.

President Ilham Aliyev and President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov later held an expanded meeting joined by their delegations.

At the meeting, Berdimuhamedov said ample opportunities are available for the development of cooperation in the economic, trade and humanitarian spheres between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

Expressing deep gratitude to Azerbaijani President for invitation, Berdimuhamedov noted that the main goal of this official visit is to further strengthen the fraternal relations between the two peoples and countries.

“As for the political sphere, I would like to say that our countries stand for preserving international and regional security,” he said. “We would like the stable development of our countries to continue. This is a factor that positively influences the political processes taking place in Central Asia and the Caspian region.”

“In the current conditions, our countries must strengthen cooperation within the authoritative international organizations, namely, UN, OSCE, OIC, CIS, ECO and other organizations," the Turkmen president said.

The meeting was followed by a ceremony of signing documents.

The strategic areas of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are energy and transport, said Berdimuhamedov when addressing the press conference.

“We discussed in detail the issues of economic cooperation and came to a common opinion on the need to expand our mutual activities in this area in accordance with the industrial and infrastructure potential of the two countries,” he said.

The Turkmen leader said that during the talks, the presidents paid special attention to the cooperation of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in the sphere of trade, and the need to increase and diversify mutual trade.

“We reached an agreement on the consideration of measures to intensify investment activities for the implementation of joint projects in the spheres of industry, services and agrocomplex, as well as expanding mutual trade. In this regard, a major role should be played by mutual activities in the business structures of the two countries. The strategic directions of our cooperation are energy and transport. Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan occupy leading positions in Eurasia in terms of energy production. We have a modern infrastructure and it's not just about Eurasia and the region, I can say that our countries are the leaders in terms of energy production in the world. We have the appropriate infrastructure and common opinion on the configuration of energy and transport routes,” he said.

Berdimuhamedov further added that Azerbaijan is a brotherly country, adding that Turkmenistan attaches great importance to bilateral relations with Azerbaijan. 

“Our countries and nations are bound by centuries-old traditions of good neighbourliness, common history, culture, language and spiritual values. We strongly preserve and enrich this legacy in accordance with the present realities. Our main goal is to hand down our traditions and our highest values to next generations.”

President Berdimuhamedov said that during the discussions the two countries agreed to further develop and encourage relations in the cultural, humanitarian, scientific, educational and sport areas. He hailed the Baku meetings, adding that they resulted in the signing of a large package of bilateral documents.

In Baku, Berdimuhamedov also met with Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, who praised developing relations between the two countries.

“Both countries have broad opportunities for development of relations,” he said.

The president, in turn, said Turkmenistan is interested in boosting cooperation in all fields.

They exchanged views over development prospects of relations, as well as geopolitical and geo-economic situation in the region.

Currently, there are 52 bilateral documents forming the regulatory and contractual base of the interstate partnership of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

In 2007-2017, four mutual visits of the highest level took place between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, a Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation was established, and the commission’s four meetings have been held so far.

Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan possess huge natural resources, including colossal hydrocarbon reserves, and this opens great prospects for fruitful contacts in strategically important areas.

The geographical position of the two neighboring states also creates favorable prerequisites for effective efforts in the implementation of projects on the formation of modern transcontinental communication corridors linking Europe and Asia, providing optimal profitable land and sea routes for cargo transportation and their integration into the international logistics infrastructure.

Turkmenistan is one of the key players in energy market of the Caspian region and Central Asia. Hydrocarbon resources of Turkmenistan can be sent in the western direction if a pipeline is constructed across the Caspian Sea to the shores of Azerbaijan, from where the hydrocarbon resources can be sent to Turkey and further to Europe.

A stable transportation of Turkmen oil through Azerbaijan in recent years is an illustrative example of mutually beneficial cooperation.



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