China ready to strengthen cooperation with Turkmenistan: FM

Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) holds talks with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 12, 2021. (Xinhua)

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to beef up cooperation with Turkmenistan in various areas, visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Monday.

China sees Turkmenistan as a truly reliable strategic partner, and the development of bilateral ties has maintained sound momentum under the strategic guidance of the heads of state, Wang said during talks with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov.

China will firmly support Turkmenistan in taking a development path suited to its own national conditions, its commitment to permanent neutrality, and its measures to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests, said Wang.

China, he said, is willing to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to work with Turkmenistan to deepen political mutual trust, expand all-round cooperation, enhance coordination on major international and regional issues, and turn the high-level cooperation into more concrete results that will benefit the two peoples.

China will continue to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Turkmenistan and back its efforts to fight the pandemic, said the minister.

China is ready to step up cooperation with Turkmenistan in traditional and non-traditional security fields and help the country safeguard its national security, he said.

Wang suggested that both countries seek to ratchet up the scale of cooperation in natural gas to solve existing problems, increase cooperation in oil and gas processing, new energy, green energy, nuclear energy so that the two countries can forge a long-term strategic partnership in the energy sector.

The top Chinese diplomat also proposed that the two countries explore more opportunities in non-natural resources sectors to make bilateral cooperation more diversified and multi-faceted.

Together with Turkmenistan, China is ready to speed up the alignment of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with Turkmenistan's development strategy to revive the Great Silk Road, create new growth areas like digital economy and cross-border e-commerce, implement cooperation in production capacity and investment, establish an interconnected network, advance agricultural and sci-tech cooperation, and expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the party's founding this year, China has found a development path suited to its national conditions and is widely supported by the people, Wang noted.

While China's development marks an increase in the forces of peace and developing countries, Wang said some Western forces attempted to impede China's development by spreading disinformation, by meddling in China's internal affairs on the pretext of human rights, and by politicizing COVID-19 origin tracing in a bid to shift their responsibility for the botched response to the pandemic.

He said China is ready to work with Turkmenistan to safeguard the basic norms governing international relations, including non-interference in other's internal affairs, jointly uphold international equity and justice, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.

Meredov, for his part, voiced his heartfelt congratulations on the centenary of the CPC, highly appreciated the remarkable achievements made by Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC and expressed confidence that led by the CPC, China will surely achieve its set development goals.

Turkmenistan and China have established a high level of political mutual trust, have understood and supported each other on issues concerning their respective core interests, and have continuously deepened mutually beneficial cooperation as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges, said the top Turkmen diplomat.

Not long ago, the phone conversation between the two heads of state charted couse for the future development of bilateral relations, he said.

As the two countries will usher in the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year, Turkmenistan is willing to take the opportunity to strengthen the alignment of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with Turkmenistan's development strategy to revive the Great Silk Road, and expand cooperation in the fields of anti-pandemic, security, oil and gas, and non-natural resources, said Meredov.

Turkmenistan is grateful to China for providing COVID-19 vaccines and hopes that the two sides will jointly combat the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism, promote cooperation in biosecurity and information security, and strengthen cooperation in renewable energy, environmental protection, aviation and telecommunications, he said.

Turkmenistan welcomes China's establishment of the Luban Workshop, a worldwide program for technical personnel, and hopes to set up a Turkmen-Chinese dialogue mechanism of cultural exchanges, he added.

The two countries hold the same or similar positions on major international and regional issues, and Turkmenistan firmly supports China in improving the "one country, two systems" institutional system, opposes foreign interference in China's internal affairs and politicization of the COVID-19 origin tracing, and backs China in safeguarding its own core interests, said Meredov.

Wang and Meredov agreed to negotiate and sign documents for cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative as soon as possible, formulate a five-year plan for cooperation and a plan for expanding partnership in economy, facilitate the negotiation on natural gas cooperation to achieve substantive progress as soon as possible, and ink international road transport agreements and pacts in other areas.

They also conducted in-depth exchanges of views on international and regional issues of common concern, such as the situation in Afghanistan.