Russia and Turkmenistan are strategic partners – Putin

The strategic partnership between Russia and Turkmenistan is being implemented not only on paper, but also in life, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Izvestia newspaper.

“We can state that the level of strategic partnership that has developed and is recorded in the relevant documents does not only take place on paper, but in reality, and in life, this is how it happens,” the Russian leader noted at a meeting with President Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Samarkand.

Putin stressed that Russia intends to increase its share in the foreign trade turnover of Turkmenistan and added that Russia is one of the leading trade and economic partners of Turkmenistan.

In addition, Putin noted that during the pandemic, the trade turnover between the two countries decreased slightly.

“We will consider that this is a subject for discussion and future adjustments,” he said regarding the decline in trade between the two countries, and expressed confidence that the situation in this area would change for the better.

Earlier that day, Putin arrived in Samarkand, where for the first time in three years he personally takes part in a meeting of the SCO.

On June 30, Putin spoke about good relations with the president of Turkmenistan. He noted that Berdimuhamedov is a young and at the same time an experienced figure.

Before that, on June 10, Putin and Berdimuhamedov signed a declaration on deepening the strategic partnership between the countries. The Russian leader also supported the initiative to create a Russian-Turkmenistan university, proposed by his colleague, as the level of demand among Turkmen youth for Russian education remains stably high.

Diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkmenistan were established on April 8, 1992. The main document is the strategic partnership agreement signed in 2017. According to it, since July 2019, the Russian Federation has been providing services for the transportation of Turkmen oil, cooperation in the oil sector is underway, and work continues on the reconstruction of Turkmen energy facilities.

inozPRESS.kg,
Sept. 15, 2022