On November 18, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov made a video link at the International Forum on Northern Economic Cooperation, the state information agency TDH reported .
"Turkmenistan views the Forum as an important international platform for discussing and developing strategic vectors of economic cooperation in Eurasia, as well as a successful continuation of mutually beneficial economic partnership with Korea in a bilateral and multilateral format," the head of state said.
Touching upon the topic of the pandemic, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov lamented that “the world community, unfortunately, was unable to effectively counteract it in a timely manner” and added that the pandemic can only be defeated “by combining the intellectual, material, financial and other resources of all states of the world”.
The head of Turkmenistan called for "complete depoliticization of the coronavirus problem" and "to stop using the pandemic as an instrument of influence in interstate relations."
The President recalled his initiatives, which he announced at the 76th UN General Assembly - under the auspices of WHO, to study the etiology of coronavirus and conduct targeted work in the field of therapy and prevention of diseases caused by COVID-19.
Note that Turkmenistan does not recognize the presence of cases of coronavirus infection on its territory. Thus, there are only two mainland countries left in the world - Turkmenistan and the DPRK, which, according to official government data, were not affected by the global pandemic.
It was also noted that Turkmenistan highly appreciates the fruitful cooperation with Korea in areas such as health care, green development and food security.
“The humanitarian sphere is an area that requires joint efforts. Turkmenistan and Korea, which have great potential in this direction, will be able to start implementing new joint projects in the near future, which will become a significant contribution to the implementation of the New Northern Policy, the President concluded.
In his speech at the Forum last year, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov appealed to South Korean businessmen, inviting them to "more actively enter the Turkmen market," promising to create favorable working conditions and provide maximum assistance. “Great prospects are seen for joint activities in the implementation of projects in high-tech industries, including telecommunications and space, in the field of water use, in particular, desalination of sea water,” the president said.
On the same day, November 18, a telephone conversation took place between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov and his Korean counterpart Chon Uy-yeon .
The parties discussed bilateral cooperation in the political, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian fields, the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan reports .
The ministers also discussed the agenda of the 14th Central Asia-Korea Cooperation Forum, scheduled for November 30.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan