OREANDA-NEWS. July 1, 2009. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov paid the official visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on June 29.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a state in the Middle East. ‘Hashemite’ indicates that the ruling dynasty in Jordan is the direct descendants of Prophet Muhammad. Jordan is the constitutional monarchy. In 1946 the country proclaimed independence and became a full member of international community.

Today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan maintains the friendly and good neighbourly relations with many countries worldwide and is a member of several international and regional organisations including the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the League of Arab States, the World Trade Organization. Jordan concluded the agreement on partnership with the European Union. The Kingdom actively cooperates with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to better the situation in the Middle East.

The effective economic policy of the Government enabled Jordan to make a breakthrough and took the leading position in the region during the past years. The basic sectors of Jordanian economy are mineral resources, processing and tourism industries. The country ranks among the world’s produces and exporters of phosphorite and potash salt. Transport and communication infrastructure is highly developed in Jordan. Jordan is famous for the port of Aqaba port, which has the status of the special economic zone and trading centre of the country. As is known the priority aspects of Turkmenistan’s foreign policy strategy included expansion of the relations of friendship and mutually advantageous cooperation with the Arab countries. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is one of those countries that we are bound with the historical, religious and cultural affinities. Our peoples have been maintaining close trade, cultural and spiritual ties over many centuries.

The modern history of the relations between Turkmenistan and Jordan started in December 1991 after the Hashemite Kingdom had recognized independence of our country. The protocol on the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and a number of bilateral documents on cooperation were signed in February 1993, during the visit of the Jordanian government delegation to Turkmenistan.

A new stage in the history of Turkmen-Jordanian cooperation was marked with the first meeting between President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and King of Jordan Abdullah II bin al-Hussein last July in Astana, where they attended the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The sides expressed mutual interest in development and expansion of cooperation between Turkmenistan and Jordan in the whole spectrum of bilateral partnership.

The logical continuation of the top level dialogue and an important event that fostered the intergovernmental relations was the first official visit of King of Jordan Abdullah II to Turkmenistan last August. This visit illustrated the countries’ willingness to establish full-scale partnership between Turkmenistan and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and implement the profound potential of bilateral cooperation in social and political, trade and economic and cultural and humanitarian spheres.

It should be noted that the visits of the officials of Turkmenistan and Jordan at various levels promoted strengthening and enhancing the bilateral relations, building the new formats of collaboration between the countries. In this context, emphasis should be put on active development of the interdepartmental contacts, in particular the effective joint work in the spheres of education, health care and medical industry, banking and financial sector.

Turkmenistan and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan demonstrate the similarity or coincidence of views on a broad range of global and regional political issues that allow them to develop constructive cooperation in the multilateral format as well. The examples of effective Turkmen-Jordanian partnership on the world arena include cooperation in the framework of international organizations such as the United Nations. Jordan was one of the first countries to support the status of permanent neutrality of Turkmenistan in December 1995. Jordan coauthored the UN Resolution on Reliable and Stable Transit of Energy and Its Role in Ensuring Sustainable Development and International Cooperation initiated by President of Turkmenistan. The Resolution was adopted by the UN member countries on December 19, 2008.

The profound potential of Turkmen-Jordanian partnership on the world arena in both bilateral and multilateral formats requires further development and expansion of cooperation between our countries. Today the readiness of the peoples of Turkmenistan and Jordan for friendship and mutual understanding is filled with a special content and acquires a new meaning. The historical and cultural ties, coincidence or closeness of views on the global issues are the determining factors of the dynamic intergovernmental relations.

The official visit of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan became a landmark in the history of the relations between our countries and promoted the wellbeing of the two fraternal peoples.