President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, who takes part at the XIII Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), has met with Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad.
The Head of government of the friendly country takes this opportunity to congratulate the President of Turkmenistan with a convincing victory in the recent election and re-election to the highest state post.
The interlocutors were unanimous in their opinion that the confidential nature of the relationship allows countries to work out new direction of partnership, in the asset of which – cooperation in trade – economy and energy sector, construction, agriculture. The desire was expressed to develop cooperation, which has received a powerful impetus thanks to agreements within the framework of regular talks, in particular on the results of the official visit of President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov to Pakistan in March last year.
The Turkmen Leader emphasized that Turkmenistan considers Pakistan as a key partner in the context of increased cooperation with the countries of South Asia, building interstate relations on a bilateral and multilateral basis.
Referring to the agenda of this ECO summit, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif noted the urgency of international initiatives aimed at creating a solid foundation for sustainable development put forward by President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov.
Thanking for the support, the Turkmen Leader noted prospects which are opening for cooperation with Member States of the Economic Cooperation Organization, including with Pakistan, in partnership with which large-scale joint projects are implemented, primarily the construction of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas main.
President of Turkmenistan and Prime Minister of Pakistan expressed firm belief that the cooperation would receive a worthy continuation for account of new joint projects.
Noting Turkmenistan’s constructive approach to the issues of cooperation, including within the framework of ECO, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif praised the ongoing work of our country for the promotion and realization of the initiatives to ensure energy security and development of modern transport and communication systems. As it was emphasized in the speech at the summit by President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, the establishment within the Organization for Economic Cooperation energy, transport and transit corridors encourages also the implementation of infrastructure projects. Thus, in accordance with the signed tripartite document on cooperation in the electricity sector in December 2015, the construction of infrastructure for electricity supplies from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan is foreseen; at present time the project on laying fiber-optic lines in this direction is underway as well.
At the forum having supported the call of the Turkmen Leader on the necessity to develop innovative approaches to the Organization’s activities, which amassed vast positive experience, the Prime Minister of Pakistan was also concurred with President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, who considers unacceptable deviation from the economic content as the main mechanism for co-operation of states seeking to implement joint projects.
President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov thanked the Head of the government of the friendly country for the hospitality and high level of organization of the representative forum.
As noted, similarity of the two countries’ views on events in the world policy processes, their active position in the international dialogue contributes to the effective political and economic cooperation.
Source: Turkmenistan State News Agency-TDH