President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow with President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, who paid his first official visit to Russia after being elected head of state.
The meeting of the leaders of the two states took place in the Grand Kremlin Palace. During the talks in a one-on-one format and in an expanded format with the participation of delegations of the two countries, V. Putin and S. Berdimuhamedov discussed the development of cooperation in political, trade, economic, scientific, cultural and other areas of mutual interest.
During the talks, it was noted that despite all external difficulties, in the first quarter of this year, bilateral trade has increased significantly, which is a very serious move forward. The parties also stressed that to date, 288 documents have been signed between the two countries, where the basic ones are the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, as well as the Treaty on Strategic Partnership between Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation.
Stressing that Ashgabat pays great attention to cooperation with the Russian Federation, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov invited President Vladimir Putin to pay an official visit to Turkmenistan at any time convenient for him. The Russian leader, in turn, said that he would definitely take advantage of the invitation and visit Turkmenistan.
After the talks in the Malachite Foyer of the Grand Kremlin Palace, a ceremony was held to award President Serdar Berdimuhamedov with the state award of the Russian Federation - the Order of Friendship. In accordance with the decree of President Vladimir Putin, the head of Turkmenistan was awarded this high award for his great contribution to strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Then, the ceremony of signing 15 bilateral documents took place here. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov signed a Declaration on deepening the strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and Turkmenistan. At the level of the governments of Russia and Turkmenistan, two agreements were signed: on the prevention, detection and suppression of dubious financial transactions by participants in foreign economic activity, as well as on cooperation in the field of plant quarantine.
As a result of the negotiations, the parties signed a number of memorandums of cooperation: in the field of transport and transit, in the field of communications and information technology, in the construction sector, in the field of banking supervision, in the field of railways and in international and transit freight traffic.
At the regional level, agreements were signed on the implementation of international and foreign economic relations in the trade, economic, scientific, technical, socio-cultural and humanitarian spheres between the Astrakhan region of Russia and the Balkan velayat of Turkmenistan, as well as on the establishment of sister city relations between the cities of Astrakhan and Turkmenbashi.
In addition, the parties signed a cooperation agreement between the All-Russian Research Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Melioration named after A. N. Kostyakov and the Turkmen National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Animals, as well as a cooperation agreement between Astrakhan State University and Turkmen State University named after Magtymguly, and other documents.
At the end of the document signing ceremony, the heads of the two states addressed the media representatives.
During the meeting with the press, it was noted that last year the bilateral trade amounted to $865 million, and in the first quarter of this year, mutual trade increased by another 45 percent.
At present, the United Shipbuilding Corporation is building a multi-purpose dry cargo ship for Turkmenistan, two high-speed passenger motor ships have already been transferred to the Turkmen side, and there are plans to build several passenger-and-freight ferries.
The Russian Transmashholding has manufactured two diesel locomotives for the railways of Turkmenistan, and in March a contract was signed for another five such machines. Deliveries of KAMAZ products to the Turkmen market are expanding: last year, about two thousand trucks were delivered and a new training center of the company was opened in the city of Turkmenbashi.
It was also emphasized that Russia and Turkmenistan are closely cooperating in the fight against the spread of coronavirus infection. Last year, the Turkmen side was supplied with 330,000 Sputnik V vaccine kits, in January of this year - 800,000 doses of Sputnik Light, of which 300,000 were free of charge.
During the conversation with journalists, V. Putin noted that Russia is grateful to the leadership of Turkmenistan for its careful attitude to the Russian language and Russian culture. The Joint Russian-Turkmen General Education School named after A. S. Pushkin has been successfully operating in Ashgabat for 20 years. It is one of the leading educational institutions in the country with instruction in Russian, where teaching is carried out according to Russian state educational standards and textbooks. He also stressed the popularity of Russian education among the Turkmen youth: over 30,000 students from Turkmenistan are now studying in Russia, of which more than 4,300 are on a budgetary basis. In this regard, Vladimir Putin supported the idea of Serdar Berdimuhamedov to create a joint Russian-Turkmen university.
At the end of the press conference, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov proceeded to the memorial complex located in the Alexander Garden, near the Kremlin wall. Paying tribute to the heroes who fell in the battle against fascism on the fields of the Great Patriotic War, the head of Turkmenistan laid flowers at the Eternal Flame at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
In the afternoon, the Turkmen leader visited the State Tretyakov Gallery, where he got acquainted with an exhibition of works of contemporary fine art created in various periods of the twentieth century. Serdar Berdimuhamedov viewed paintings by such famous Russian masters as Malevich, Kandinsky, Chagall and others.
Thanking the leadership of the State Tretyakov Gallery for the tour, the President of Turkmenistan left the museum.
Having completed his official visit to the Russian Federation, the head of state proceeded to the Moscow Vnukovo-2 international airport, from where he departed for his homeland.
Source: Turkmenistan.ru