OREANDA-NEWS. November 18, 2010. Today, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has left on a working visit for the Azerbaijan Republic, where he will participate in the Summit of the leaders of the Caspian states in Baku.

The Summit agenda is expected to focus on the critical issues relating, first of all, to the elaboration of the legal status of the Caspian Sea and promotion of regional cooperation on ensuring security of the Caspian Sea region, in particular.

Implementing consistently the foreign-policy strategy based on equal and mutually advantageous partnership and a balance of national and common interests, independent neutral Turkmenistan stands for developing a constructive dialogue to strengthen peace and cohesion and intensify effective cooperation in the Caspian region both in bilateral and multilateral formats.

It should be noted that the first Caspian Summit took place in Ashgabat in April 2002 on the initiative of Turkmenistan. At the meeting in the Turkmen capital our country spoke with authority and confidence about its approach to building the strategy for partnership through concerting efforts and sharing responsibility for the fate of the Caspian Sea and in compliance with universally recognized norms of international law. The Ashgabat Summit, which can be characterised without exaggeration as historic, provided the participants with an opportunity to discuss priority aspects of collaboration and identify the vectors of cooperation in searching mutually acceptable solutions to the Caspian problems.

The dialogue launched in Ashgabat was continued in the capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which hosted the second Caspian Summit in October 2007 that resulted in adopting the Joint Declaration. Addressing the top level meeting in Tehran, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that Turkmenistan would continue to contribute actively to addressing the issues relating to the legal status of the Caspian Sea so as to ensure peace and security in the region, strengthen good neighbourly relations, mutual understanding and confidence between peoples of the Caspian states bound with centuries-old historical and cultural affinities and expand fruitful cooperation.

Indisputable evidence for Turkmenistan’s commitment to the strategy for positive international collaboration is the initiatives put forward by the national leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly this September aimed at developing transport and communication infrastructure in Central Asia and the Caspian basin. The Turkmen leader noted that the development of state-of-the-art infrastructure would give a powerful impetus to successful integration of the region in global economic processes, ensure investment flow and promote effective cooperation in the context of inter-continental economic realities in Eurasia.

In this context the considerable significance of Turkmenistan’s initiative to build the transnational trunk railway North-South is obvious. At present, the construction of this steel route is under way. It is noteworthy that the leaders of three neighbouring countries Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran signed the relevant agreement in Tehran on October 16, 2007 after the second Caspian Summit was concluding. After it is built and put into operation, this railway corridor will become a very convenient and cost-effective route between Asia and Europe that will open up ample opportunities for fruitful partnership.

It should be noted that the Caspian Summit in Baku is to give new incentives to the negotiation process and achievement of consensus among all parties on the key aspects of the Caspian problems and become an effective step to develop an optimal format of cooperation on enhancing the status of the Caspian Sea as the sea of peace, friendship and cohesion. The Turkmen leader is expected to hold a number of bilateral meetings in the framework of the Summit in Baku.