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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's opening remarks during his meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov, Moscow, December 6, 2022

6 December 2022 16:54
2499-06-12-2022

Mr Meredov,

Friends,

We are happy to welcome you to Moscow.

Turkmenistan is our close friend and strategic partner. We give special attention to fostering bilateral relations and our cooperation on regional and international affairs.

You have a full agenda here in Moscow. On December 7, the co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation will preside over a commission meeting, for which a large package of documents has been prepared. This again emphasises the concrete and substantive character of contacts between Russia and Turkmenistan, which are always followed by the signing of agreements for developing our countries, as well as bilateral cooperation.

The two presidents have set the tone for cooperation. In 2022 alone, the leaders of our two countries have met five times. Interparliamentary cooperation has been brought to a new level. As a co-chair of the Intergovernmental Commission, you stay in close contact with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, as a great number of economic projects are being carried out now. It is important that our countries' regions also maintain close cooperation. The Republic of Tatarstan, the Astrakhan and Chelyabinsk regions, and St Petersburg are the Russian regions that pursue the most proactive policy in relations with their partners in Turkmenistan. These activities are being promoted in line with the principled provisions of the Declaration on Expanding Strategic Partnership, which was signed by the presidents of our two countries on June 10, 2022 and which provides for expanding bilateral ties in all areas of cooperation.

We value our humanitarian ties and Turkmenistan's caring attitude to the Russian language and Russian culture. We are carrying out joint initiatives in these areas. It is enough to mention the construction of a new building of the Russian Drama Theatre in Ashgabat and the establishment of a Russia-Turkmenistan university that is called upon to organically supplement the work of the Alexander Pushkin School, which will also upgrade its premises now. I am certain that Turkmenistan is one of the region's largest educational centres. We are willing to promote the development of bilateral relations in these invariable priority areas - they are important for our people and personal contacts. We appreciate the interest of young men and women from Turkmenistan in studying in the Russian Federation. We will continue creating the most comfortable conditions for your students.

We have established close cooperation in the CIS and the Caspian Five in the regional and international arena. The Central Asia plus Russia Dialogue is gaining strength. You were one of its supporters several years ago. Several meetings of foreign ministers of the Central Asian Five and the Russian Federation in 2022 were followed by the first summit, where important ideas were suggested. We will work on their practical implementation. Our delegations are also closely cooperating in the UN.

Using this opportunity, I would like to congratulate you on the upcoming national holiday - Neutrality Day on December 12. Symbolically, the International Day of Neutrality is observed on that day at the initiative of Turkmenistan and with the active support of the majority of countries, including Russia. This shows that the international community recognises Turkmenistan's contribution to promoting humanistic principles and political approaches to settling any international problems.

In 2022, we marked the 30th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. Meanwhile, the history of friendship between our nations is rooted in ancient past. We will continue developing our bilateral ties on the principles of reciprocal respect, trust, mutual assistance and account of each other's interests. I am confident that your current visit will help our advance forward in all areas.