OREANDA-NEWS. May 11, 2010. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who had arrived in Moscow, the capital of the Russian Federation to attend the festivities in honour of the 65th anniversary of the Victory in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War, participated in the informal Summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States that was timed to this bright holiday.

The Turkmen leader’s participation in the CIS Summit vividly evidences that Turkmenistan abides by the foreign policy strategy prioritizing the establishment of constructive international cooperation in the framework of the international and regional organisations as well.

Turkmenistan as an associate member of the Commonwealth takes active part in its activities and encourages an equitable mutually respectful dialogue in the bilateral and multilateral formats.

In the afternoon the Turkmen leader’s cortege headed for the Summit venue – the Gorki State Residence of the RF President. President of the Russian Federation Dmitriy Medvedev greeted heartily his Turkmen counterpart at the main entrance to the State Residence.

Opening the Summit as the leader of the host country President Dmitriy Medvedev cordially greeted the distinguished guests who had accepted his invitation to attend the nationwide festivities thus paying homage to courageous and valorous heroes of the Great Patriotic war, who had gained the victory in one of the bloodiest wars in the history of humanity 65 years ago.

Congratulating wholeheartedly all those present on the coming holiday, the Russian leader expressed the best wishes of peace and prosperity to the peoples of the friendly countries.

Then the floor was given to the heads of the delegations of the CIS member states.

Greeting the Summit participants and congratulating them on the bright holiday, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov thanked RF President Dmitriy Medvedev for inviting to visit Moscow and the heartfelt welcome and hospitality extended in Russia.

The national leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that Turkmenistan viewed cooperation with the CIS member states as an aspect of its foreign policy and built relations with the states of the Commonwealth on the traditions of friendship, mutual respect, equitable and mutually advantageous partnership.

“In recent years our country has markedly intensified its participation in the CIS’ activities devoting major attention to the implementation of the existing potential of multilateral cooperation,” the Turkmen leader said providing the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government and the meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers in Ashgabat in November 2007 and last April as an example.

Touching upon the prospects for cooperation, the President of Turkmenistan mentioned transport and communication infrastructure development and energy partnership as the most important.

“The territory of the CIS states is a natural transport corridor on the routes form north to south, from east to west giving access to large world markets. We see the substantial potential of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran transnational railway under construction and the prospects for the promotion of sea shipping among the CIS states on the Caspian Sea from this point of view,” Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized.

Spotlighting the prospects for cooperation in the fuel and energy sector, the Turkmen leader focused on the existing profound resource and transit potential of the states of the Commonwealth emphasizing that successful implementation of joint projects of new transnational pipelines could give powerful impetus to economic and social progress of producing, transit and consuming countries.

In this regard Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov underscored the critical role in this process of the multilateral international dialogue initiated at the UN level to agree effective approaches to the principles and practices on energy market and to elaborate effective international legal mechanisms for protecting energy infrastructure.

The Turkmen leader noted that Turkmenistan as an associate member of the Commonwealth did not stand aside the important processes taking place in the CIS. A number of large-scale international forums are conducted in the country each year. In particular, Turkmenistan hosted the meetings of the Council of Administration of the Regional Commonwealth in Communications in September 2008 and the CIS Coordination Council for Informatization.

The first CIS Agricultural Forum including the meetings of the CIS agricultural ministers, the agricultural exhibition, the scientific conference and the meetings of businessmen from the CIS states was organized in Ashgabat in November 2009. The Turkmen leader said that this forum had promoted partnership and mutually advantageous cooperation among the states of the Commonwealth in such spheres critical to the achievement of food security as agricultural science, equipment and advanced technologies that directly contributed to increasing the effectiveness of the agro-industry sector.

Furthermore, exchange of visits at various levels, first of all the top one, that had become more frequent and the talks that resulted in reaching important agreements related to the key fields of cooperation including particularly the trade and economic, fuel and energy, transport and communications sectors and the humanitarian and cultural spheres vividly testify to the intensification of intergovernmental relationships among the CIS states.

Thanking for attention Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that Turkmenistan would continue to maintain relations with the states of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

During the conversation which was held in a hearty and informal atmosphere those present focused with satisfaction on the systematic character of informal meetings which gave powerful impetus to develop full-scale cooperation that was promoted in all fields without exception.

The Summit participants discussed a wide range of the issues: from the role and significance of the Great Victory to the particular ways to promote cooperation among the CIS states. The CIS leaders had a splendid opportunity to exchange views on the international and regional political aspects of mutual interest.

Expressing the commitment to enhancing and expanding the traditional, long-term dialogue, the leaders of the countries of the Commonwealth reaffirmed the determination to promote fruitful, equable cooperation that was built it on a long-term, mutually beneficial basis.