Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty Milli Gengesh (upper house of parliament) of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov supported the proposal of Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav Volodin to take part in the meeting of heads of parliaments of the countries of the Caspian region.
The proposal was made during a visit by the ex-president of the State Duma on November 2.
At the meeting, the Chairman of the State Duma noted that the vast experience of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and his friendship with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin is a guarantee of close contacts and mutual understanding between the two countries,press service of the State Duma reports .
“We hope that your visit will give a good impetus to the development of relations between the parliaments of Russia and Turkmenistan,” added Viacheslav Volodin.
Volodin invited Berdimuhamedov to take part in a meeting of heads of parliaments of the countries of the Caspian region to discuss issues of interregional cooperation. He said that he discussed the topic of holding such an inter-parliamentary forum with colleagues from Azerbaijan.
“We plan to meet in the format of a meeting of the chairmen of the parliaments of the countries of the Caspian Sea basin next year in Baku to discuss the development of relations within the parliamentary dimension,” suggested Viacheslav Volodin.
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov supported the initiative of the Chairman of the State Duma and Azerbaijani colleagues. “This is a very correct approach. We need to specify our formats of work and the legislative framework,” he added.
At the meeting, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that in Turkmenistan, great attention is paid to the Russian language, “starting from kindergarten and ending with the university.” He said that by decision of the presidents next year, the foundation of the Russian-Turkmenistan University will be laid in Turkmenistan.
“Here we need your help in studying legal issues, as well as what faculties, directions, specialties are needed,” Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said.
Viacheslav Volodin accepted Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s invitation to visit Turkmenistan.
The state information agency TDH writes without specifics that “the parties discussed the possibility of participation of the delegation of Turkmenistan in the meeting of heads of parliaments of the countries of the Caspian region to consider key aspects of interregional cooperation.”
However, the publication notes that Berdimuhamedov stressed that “Turkmenistan, a neutral country whose legal status was twice recognized at the UN level – in 1995 and 2015, firmly follows the chosen course.”
The Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty called the scientific and educational sphere one of the priority areas of interstate cooperation. And he again noted that in Turkmenistan “much attention is paid to the Russian language, starting from preschool institutions and ending with higher educational institutions.” He also recalled that at the October CIS Summit it was decided that the year 2023 in the CIS countries was declared the Year of the Russian language as the language of interethnic communication.
The topic of sports was also touched upon. Thus, the ex-president told Volodin that Turkmenistan has a modern infrastructure for holding major sports competitions.
At the end of the meeting, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov invited the head of the State Duma to visit Turkmenistan at any time convenient for him. Recall that on October 12, Grigory Karasin , head of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs , said that Vyacheslav Volodin plans to make a working visit to Turkmenistan before the end of the year.
On November 1-3, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s official visit to Russia is taking place. On the 1st, he held a meeting with Federation Council Chairman Valentina Matviyenko , and on the 2nd he spoke at a meeting of the Federation Council.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan