The President of Turkmenistan received a representative of the US Senate

Today, the esteemed President Serdar Berdimuhamedow received Steve Daines, a member of the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and a Senator from Montana, who arrived in our country on a visit.

As noted during the meeting, relations between Turkmenistan and the US are currently developing consistently on the basis of principles of mutual respect, trust, and understanding. The cooperation between our countries is multifaceted and encompasses the political-diplomatic, trade-economic, and cultural-humanitarian spheres.

Speaking about political and diplomatic relations, the Head of State emphasized that an active political dialogue has been maintained between the two countries in recent years. A clear example of this is the esteemed President's working visit to Washington in November of last year to participate in the "Central Asia – US" format summit. During the visit, in a conversation with US President Donald Trump, a constructive exchange of views took place on the current state of Turkmen-American relations and their further development in the future. Also noted was the important significance of the visit by the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahat of Turkmenistan, Hero Arkadag, to the state of Florida, USA, in February of this year for the development of bilateral cooperation. Such high-level dialogue serves as an important political foundation for the further effective development of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the US.

Active cooperation is maintained between the foreign policy agencies of our countries. Regular meetings facilitate the exchange of views on issues of the international agenda. "Turkmenistan, based on its legal status of permanent neutrality, which has been recognized by the UN three times, is steadily expanding its relations with the countries of the world and authoritative international organizations. At the initiative of our country, the UN General Assembly has adopted a number of Resolutions regarding the provision of peace, security, and mutual trust in the world, the security of energy resources, and the creation of transit-transport corridors," said the esteemed President. Taking this opportunity, he expressed his gratitude to the United States of America for supporting the policy of positive neutrality pursued by Turkmenistan.

As emphasized, trade and economic cooperation is one of the promising areas for developing relations between the two countries. Positive experience of cooperation with American companies has been accumulated in this area. Over many years, effective cooperation has been established with major American companies in implementing important projects in our country. In this regard, the great contribution of the "Turkmenistan – US" Business Council in coordinating economic ties was noted. A meeting of this council was recently held in our capital. It provided representatives of American business circles and their Turkmen partners with the opportunity to discuss new areas of mutually beneficial cooperation.

During the meeting, the Head of State reaffirmed our country's readiness to cooperate with the US in important areas such as the fuel and energy sector, transport, finance, banking, advanced technologies, and artificial intelligence. Possessing rich reserves of natural resources, our country is implementing a strategy to diversify energy supply routes and advocates for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation based on equal consideration of the interests of producers, consumers, and transit countries. The esteemed President noted that our country highly values the attention and support provided by the US for the implementation of the promising transnational Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline in the energy sector in the region, expressing confidence that this project will help strengthen economic development and cooperation in the region.

Cooperation in the fields of education, science, and culture is an important part of bilateral relations. For many years, joint programs in these areas have been implemented. Various scientific and cultural events are organized in our country within the framework of the US Department of State's "Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation" program. The esteemed President noted with satisfaction that Turkmen youth are studying in the US within the framework of educational programs and that relations between the higher educational institutions of the two countries have intensified in recent years, reaffirming our country's readiness to further develop cultural and humanitarian ties that help bring the peoples closer together.

Source: State News Agency of Turkmenistan