PRESIDENT OF TURKMENISTAN: THE TERRITORIES OF THE CIS COUNTRIES CAN BECOME THE MAIN ROUTES OF ECONOMIC INTERACTION ON THE CONTINENT

Speaking today, on December 18, at the meeting of the Council of Heads of States of the Commonwealth of Independent States in the format of a video conference, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov assessed the level of economic interaction within the CIS and shared a number of important initiatives for its development.

The President highlighted the importance of the CIS Economic Development Strategy until 2030, based on the principles of the Declaration on Strategic Economic Cooperation of the CIS Member States, adopted at the meeting of the Council of Heads of States in Ashgabat in October 2019.

Special emphasis was placed on expanding cooperation in such areas as transport, fuel and energy complex, communications, industrial cooperation, trade, innovation and technologies. The head of the Turkmen state emphasized the need to use the potential of the CIS for the implementation of significant projects in these promising sectors. "At the same time, the territories of the CIS countries can become the main routes of economic interaction on the continent, in a broad sense - connecting links along the line between Europe and Asia," President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stressed.

The head of state also noted the importance of promoting the economic interests of the CIS beyond the geographical limits of the Commonwealth, integrating neighboring countries and neighboring regions into joint projects. In particular, they talked about the acceptability of creating a transport and transit infrastructure, optimizing and expanding energy supplies, laying new communication lines, taking into account the requirements of the present.

In this context, the importance of the Caspian region was highlighted, with the formation of a multilateral logistics system, including through the use of the capabilities of the International Sea Port of Turkmenbashi and the modern merchant fleet of Turkmenistan.

Noting the importance of the work of the Economic Council and the sectoral bodies of the CIS in developing long-term joint strategies, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov proposed expanding multilateral cooperation in the Caspian. He stressed that the first Caspian Economic Forum, held in the city of Turkmenbashi last year, laid the conceptual foundations of such a partnership.

The importance of mobilizing joint efforts to achieve sustainable dynamics in trade, industrial cooperation, cross-border and regional cooperation was emphasized.