Xi holds phone talks with Turkmen president, president-elect

A freight train from Rizhao to Central Asia leaves a container station of Rizhao port in east China's Shandong Province, Sept. 12, 2017. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday held phone talks with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President-elect Serdar Berdimuhamedov.

Xi congratulated Turkmenistan on the successful presidential election, and again congratulated Serdar Berdimuhamedov on his election as the president of the country, wishing Turkmenistan new and greater achievement in the Revival of a New Era of a Powerful State.

Xi noted that China-Turkmenistan relations have achieved leapfrog development in recent years, with the two sides establishing strategic partnership and bilateral cooperation in various fields reaching the highest level in history.

The Chinese side attaches great importance to China-Turkmenistan relations, Xi said, adding that China will continue to firmly support Turkmenistan's domestic and foreign policies, and firmly oppose external interference in Turkmenistan's internal affairs.

China stands ready to build on past achievements and move forward with Turkmenistan, so as to lift bilateral relations to higher levels and jointly build an even closer community with a shared future between the two countries, Xi said.

Xi stressed that the China-Turkmenistan cooperation fully reflects the high level of mutual trust and sincere friendship between the two countries.

A container is loaded onto the freight train from Rizhao to Central Asia at a container station of Rizhao port in east China's Shandong Province, Sept. 12, 2017. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

The two sides have signed a five-year inter-government cooperation plan, which has drawn up a road map for all-round cooperation between China and Turkmenistan in the coming period and identified key areas and priorities for cooperation, Xi said.

The two sides should continue to promote cooperation in such fields as energy and natural gas, and strengthen the alignment between the Belt and Road Initiative and Turkmenistan's development strategy to revive the Great Silk Road, Xi said, so as to make the cake of mutually beneficial cooperation ever bigger, achieve more new progress and improve the well-being of the two nations.

Noting that the current international and regional situation is complex and sensitive, Xi said both sides should maintain timely communication, close cooperation and mutual support on major issues, uphold true multilateralism, and contribute to promoting the democratization of international relations as well as international fairness and justice.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Serdar Berdimuhamedov spoke highly of the achievements made in the development of bilateral relations in recent years.

They said that the Turkmen side will continue to firmly adhere to the policy of friendly cooperation with China, and keep on making joint efforts with China to actively promote all-round practical cooperation in various fields, adding that they believe that Turkmenistan-China relations will see further development, which will better benefit the people of the two countries.