OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2009. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of Romania Trajan Basescu held the top level talks. Then the government delegations of Turkmenistan and Romania joined the talks. Upon concluding the talks the ceremony of signing the bilateral documents was held.

President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President Trajan Basescu adopted the joint Declaration, signed the Protocol on the Exchange of Instruments of Ratification for the Convention between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of Romania Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital, signed in Bucharest on July 16, 2008, the Schedule of the Turkmen-Romanian intergovernmental commission for economic, scientific and technical cooperation, the Minutes of the first meeting of the Joint Turkmen-Romanian intergovernmental commission for economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

The leaders of two countries gave a brief press conference.

Addressing the press conference the President of Turkmenistan highly appreciated the constructive nature of the talks, which had been held in the traditional atmosphere of mutual confidence, sincerity and understating intrinsic that was intrinsic of the Turkmen-Romanian relations. Noting that the meeting focused on the current conditions and prospects for bilateral cooperation and the regional and international political issues Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that Turkmenistan and Romania had the similar or close views on many international issues. This was another important factor for successful promotion of fruitful Turkmen-Romanian partnership on the global arena, the Turkmen leader said.

Touching upon the economic issues Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stressed that the vast opportunities and mutual readiness for full-scale implementation of the potential existed. Characterizing the fuel and energy sector, telecommunications and construction, textile industry as the priority fields of partnership the Turkmen leader put emphasis on the potential of collaboration in tourism industry. The President of Turkmenistan said that our Romanian friends had accumulated the significant experience in this field that Turkmenistan would be interested in to actively develop tourist infrastructure.

Touching upon the international issue the President stated with satisfaction that both countries effectively cooperated on the urgent issues of global development on a world arena. The concrete illustration was Romania’s support of Turkmenistan’s initiative on stability and security of transit of energy to international markets.

In conclusion Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that Turkmenistan and Romania built their policies on the principles of peace, equality and non-interference in internal affairs of other states, and the talks in Ashgabat provide the mutual commitment to these basic norms. The Turkmen leader said that Europe was a priority of Turkmenistan’s foreign policy strategy and Turkmenistan intended to further expand cooperation with Romania through the dynamic dialogue with the European Union as well.

Summing up the talks and emphasizing that he had the honour to be the first Romanian leader to visit Ashgabat Trajan Basescu focused on the symbolic coincidence of his official visit to Turkmenistan and the 17th anniversary of establishment of the diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and Romania. The Romanian leader said that Romania was the first EU member state that President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov visited a year ago.

Focusing on the importance of increasing the international dialogue the honorary guest said that the meetings between the two leaders and the high degree of openness, mutual respect and understanding, which were typical of the Turkmen-Romanian top level talks, were the determinating factors of its effectiveness.

Referring to the Declaration signed by the leaders of the two states the guest emphasized that this document became some kind of a political signal of the readiness of Turkmenistan and Romania to tackle the issues of cooperation through participation in the international organisations, in particular searching for the solutions to challenges and problems of the modern world.

Touching upon development of trade and economic cooperation Trajan Basescu said that the bilateral intergovernmental commission, which was to become the drive mechanism for implementing the ideas of partnership and embodying them into real projects and actions played a significant role.

Speaking about the key fields of cooperation the Romanian leader mentioned the fuel and energy sector noting that Romania fully supports Turkmenistan’s energy policy, particularly to achieve energy security through meeting the interests of hydrocarbon suppliers, consumers and transit countries. “We welcome Turkmenistan’s participation in the international dialogue on cooperation in this important area,” Trajan Basescu said in conclusion.