OREANDA-NEWS. September 23, 2010. On the final day of the visit to the United States of America, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov met with top managers of U.S. business companies in New York. The meeting took place in the Plaza Hotel in the traditional formal of a business lunch.

Greeting the distinguished Turkmen guest on behalf of the U.S. business community Eric Stewart, Executive Director of the Turkmenistan-U.S. Business Council cordially emphasized that it was great honour for him and his colleagues to welcome the President of Turkmenistan in New York. The businessman said that the U.S. business circles endeavoured to establish close business contacts with Turkmenistan that was conditioned by the high economic potential of the country and, first of all, the Turkmen leader’s policy of progressive reforms and wide international cooperation. Expressing profound gratitude to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov for participating in the meeting, Eric Stewart expressed belief that it would promote full-scale Turkmen-American partnership.

Then the floor was given to President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. Welcoming the participants, the Turkmen leader expressed gratitude to the leadership of the Turkmenistan-US Business Council of for the initiative to organize the meeting which was a splendid opportunity to exchange views in an informal atmosphere on the progress of collaboration and its prospects, specify concrete demands and intentions of both sides to plan further cooperation.

The Turkmen leader underscored the importance of the activity of the Business Council, which had organized a number of meetings and business forums as an important component of trade and economic cooperation between Turkmenistan and the United States. In the present period this partnership was developed successfully and fruitfully on the basis of mutual benefit and equality, the mutual understanding of its availability and compliance with mutual long-term interests.

In this regard Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov focused on a critical role of the U.S. leading companies represented in the Business Council including Boeing, Caterpillar, Chevron, John Deere, Exxon Mobil, Case New Holland, Marathon Oil, Sikorsky, ConocoPhillips, Honeywell and others.

Most of them are the long-standing, traditional partners of our country, which have firmly established on the Turkmen market and accumulated the broad positive experience of working in Turkmenistan.

Today, the activity of these companies covers such key sectors of the national economy as the construction industry, agriculture, air transport, communications sector. “We welcome an active contribution the U.S. companies in Turkmenistan’s economic growth and intend to expand and enhance our cooperation,” said the Turkmen leader.

In this respect the role of the Turkmenistan-U.S. Business Council is deemed to be strengthened, continued President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noting that the extensive functions to coordinate collaboration at various levels, promote business contact between entrepreneurs of the two countries, analyze the status of bilateral contacts with the view of searching for new fields for applying concerted efforts should be assigned to the Business Council.

Emphasizing that this work was in high demand and needed adequate incentives today, the Turkmen leader reaffirmed that Turkmenistan stood ready to provide full support and assistance to this activity. The leader of the Turkmen state encouraged Business Council members to make more frequent visits to Turkmenistan that would certainly promote mutually advantageous trade and economic cooperation between Turkmenistan and the United States.

Expressing belief that these visits would be a fruitful continuation of joint work, the President of Turkmenistan once again thanked the meeting organizers of the cordial welcome and expressed the wishes of successful and productive activities to the Business Council members.

The Turkmen leader’s speech evoked keen interest of participants of the business lunch.

As is known, Turkmen-U.S. cooperation is based on long-term traditions and is growing very fast in the present period. The U.S. companies are among the leading suppliers of modern technology agricultural, construction, aviation machinery and state-of-the-art equipment, in particular gas-turbine power units, to our country.

Partnership with American companies in the oil and gas sector is deemed quite promising given the priorities of Turkmenistan’s programme for technology modernization and development of the fuel and energy sector that comprises the plans for diversification of transit of Turkmen energy to world markets and full-scale development of abundant hydrocarbon resources in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea.

Ample opportunities for fruitful collaboration are open up in the high technology sector that all industries of the dynamically developing Turkmen economy are oriented to. The other fields of mutual interest involve the textile industry that manufactures products able to compete with best foreign analogues in world markets, the construction sector, agriculture, food industry, etc.

Thus, this business meeting became a new step to strengthen and broaden business relations between Turkmenistan and the United States that had all requisites for that today and, most importantly, the mutual willingness to enhance mutually advantageous cooperation on the basis of the profound versatile potential.

Rich natural resources, the high potential of the Turkmen market and favourable investment climate, multiyear successfully experience of fruitful collaboration and new opportunities opened up today – all this created the conditions most conducive to stimulation of long-term investments and expansion of economic cooperation with Turkmenistan, American businessmen said.

The representatives of the U.S. business elite also underscored the timeliness of the initiative put forward by the President of Turkmenistan during the 65th session of the UN General Assembly aimed in particular at achieving global energy security and ensuring stable and reliable transit of energy to world markets, developing transportation and communication infrastructure in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea Basin as well as building up effective cooperation.

Evaluating highly the prudent, well thought-out policy of reforms pursued by the Turkmen leader, the businessmen expressed keen interest in enhancing fruitful contacts with Turkmenistan which the world business community viewed as a dependable and responsible partner.

Thanking the organizers and participants of the business dinner for the hearty welcome and a business, constructive exchange of views, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov wished successful and fruitful work to the Turkmenistan-US Business Council.

Expressing sincere gratitude to the Turkmen leader for the very opportunity of this meeting and his support for Turkmen-American cooperation, the meeting participants rewarded the distinguished Turkmen guest with applause.

From the Plaza Hotel the cortege of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov headed for the JFK International Airport, from where the Turkmen leader left for Ashgabat.