OREANDA-NEWS. November 19, 2010. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev before the third Summit of the leaders of the Caspian states.

Exchanging friendly greetings, the two leaders cordially and warmly congratulated each other on Kurban bayramy worshiped by all Muslims of the world and expressed the wishes of prosperity and further progress to the Turkmen and Azerbaijani peoples.

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev expressed satisfaction with an opportunity to discuss during a personal meeting the current state and prospects for Turkmen-Azerbaijani relations, a key success factor of which were centuries-old ties between the brotherly peoples bound with friendship and spiritual kinship.

During the meeting the heads of the two neighbouring states exchanged views on a wide range of issues of Turkmen-Azerbaijani cooperation focusing on the profound potential and ample opportunities to intensify mutually advantageous partnerships in the trade, economic, energy, transport and communication and other sectors. Defining development of humanitarian contacts as an essential aspect of the intergovernmental dialogue, the sides called for expanding further contacts in the spheres of education, science, art and culture.

The sides also exchanged views on a variety of issues of regional and international politics of mutual interest. Underscoring the similarity or coincidence of views on the approaches to burning problems and challenges of the modern world, the leaders of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan reaffirmed the commitment of their countries to the strategy towards closer cooperation and partnership, including in the framework of the authoritative international organisations, particularly the UN, to ensure global peace, security and sustainable development.

In this regard emphasis was put on the significance of Turkmenistan’s foreign-policy initiatives aimed at implementing the status of neutrality to promote preventive diplomacy, build new architecture of global energy security, achieve disarmament and turn Central Asia and the Caspian region into a zone of peace and stability.

Touching upon the need to harmonize the approaches to defining the legal status of the Caspian Sea, the two leaders were unanimous that the Baku Summit would promote the negotiation process and facilitate searching mutually acceptable solutions to the burning regional problem – an equal division of the unique reservoir through achieving consensus and meeting the interests of all five neighbouring states.

Focusing on the importance and fruitfulness of regular high-level contacts aimed at enhancing Turkmen-Azerbaijani relations, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov invited the President of Azerbaijan to pay an official visit to Turkmenistan at any convenient time. Ilham Aliev accepted the Turkmen leader’s invitation with gratitude.

In conclusion the leaders of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan focused on the continuing commitment to the ties of friendship and brotherhood and expressed belief that fruitful partnership built on good neighbourliness, mutual understanding and confidence would be furthered for the benefit of the two peoples and in common interests.