The meeting of the Board of the Austrian-Turkmen Society, which was held in Vienna and Ashgabat in parallel, was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two friendly countries, which, in addition to trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian ties, are united by the status of neutral states.

The meeting was held with the participation of the management of the Society, members of its board, which includes well-known cultural figures and heads of large companies in Austria and Germany.

The online conference was attended by members of the Society from the Turkmen side - the heads of the BC "Bash Taglym Turkmen" and the information agency "Media Turkmen" (ORIENT website).

During the meeting, a report was heard from the president of the Society, Neda Berger, who was at the origin of its creation, as well as the speeches of the board members on the constructive policy pursued by the heads of the two states, the main stages of the progressive development of the Turkmen-Austrian cooperation and on the work carried out by the Society to strengthen economic and cultural and humanitarian ties between Turkmenistan and Austria.

A report on the activities of the Society in recent years was presented. Thus, the next issue of the Turkmen-Austrian magazine "Galkynysh" was prepared and published, the presentations of which were held in Vienna and Ashgabat, a number of round tables and meetings in the format of video conferences, with the assistance of the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Vienna, business negotiations were held between Austrian businessmen and Turkmen entrepreneurs, as well as other events.

The participants of the meeting were unanimous in their opinion on the need to expand the Board of the Society by attracting new members from among well-known cultural figures and companies from both the Turkmen and Austrian sides to this important work.

Particular attention during the meeting was paid to discussing plans for the near future, which include holding the fifth Vienna Ball in Ashgabat, the performance of the Turkmen-Austrian orchestra "Galkynysh", organizing a round table between Austrian companies and their Turkmen colleagues.

By and large, these are not new plans, but previously agreed upon ideas, but not implemented due to the pandemic that has swept the whole world. And at present the situation is still uncertain, but the energy with which the members of the board want to implement the planned, gives confidence in the success of their implementation.

The board members enthusiastically greeted the message of the President of the Society that the press service of the Chancellor of the Republic of Austria extended the accreditation of the ORIENT website for another two years.

At the end of the meeting, the members of the Board of the Austrian-Turkmen Society gave a short interview to the ORIENT website.

Professor Wolfgang Harrer - Conductor, Secretary General of the Austrian-Turkmen Society:

– I want to emphasize that the Austrian-Turkmen symphony orchestra "Galkynysh", created 14 years ago, left a noticeable mark in the memory of many who heard it. Moreover, they ask me when the next performance of this wonderful musical group will be.

I have been to Ashgabat many times, and each time I saw it as if for the first time. Its white marble buildings seem like something magical and very musical. The Turkmen capital predisposes to inspiration.

And I have always experienced such a feeling, although I have been to Ashgabat more than once. After about a dozen trips, I lost count. And every time, filling out a visa application form, where I need to indicate how many times I was in Ashgabat, I could not remember the exact number. But I never forgot the feeling of an internal holiday when meeting with the Turkmen capital.

I would also like to talk about cooperation with Turkmenistan in the field of art, about the wonderful community of Austrian and Turkmen musicians as part of a single orchestra "Galkynysh". And taking advantage of the great opportunity provided by ORIENT, it is with great pleasure that I express my gratitude to my Turkmen colleague, conductor of the symphony orchestra, Rasul Klychev, for the years of our joint work. And I also want to personally thank each musician of the wonderful Galkynysh Symphony Orchestra.

I never tire of repeating that I always come to Ashgabat with great pleasure. Because there, in Turkmenistan, there is a very cordial and hospitable atmosphere, which brings great fruits of friendship. Unfortunately, our meetings have stopped due to the global pandemic, which has made it impossible to move from one country to another. But I believe that we will meet more than once, and I will work with talented Turkmen musicians again.

The first time I conducted the Galkynysh orchestra was in 2009. And I want to especially note that its level has grown very much over the years.

I also want to express my gratitude to the leadership of the Ministry of Culture of Turkmenistan for facilitating this joint work, and for the fact that my contribution to it was awarded a diploma.

You can say a lot of good things about work, but the best thing is to do it. And I look forward to working with Turkmen musicians again, because I love them very much.

Johann Sischka - Director of Waagner Biro steel and glass:

– It has been several years since I last visited Ashgabat. It was a memorable 2019 for me. And believe me, I often think about this trip, because great prospects for very interesting joint work opened up before us. But, as you know, after that, a pandemic hit the whole world.

And, of course, we are waiting and hoping for a new start of mutually beneficial Turkmen-Austrian relations. I am sure that when humanity finally copes with the coronavirus, we will come together and determine the way how to live and work in the post-pandemic period. Having its divisions in different countries of the world) Waagner Biro steel and glass ready for it.

In recent years, our company, despite objective difficulties beyond our control, has been successfully developing, implementing many new projects. We are now closely cooperating with the Zeman International group of companies, which includes two dozen large European companies. And such a merger has significantly strengthened our position in the global market of the construction industry.

We have now strengthened partnerships with major Turkish companies. We have developed new technologies that we can provide to Turkmenistan. Moreover, we can also offer your country a very interesting joint project using technologies developed by us.

For several years we have been working on the Ashgabat City project, maintaining working contacts with Turkmen specialists, participating in tenders, and at one time created a consortium with Turkmen construction companies. Our strong point is the creation of facades, the production of high-strength steel and glass. The track record of Waagner Biro steel and glass includes unique structures in different countries of the world, which have received high praise from experts.

I will not be original at all, saying that during each visit I admired Ashgabat. Back in 2017, together with Turkmen specialists, we began working on projects for the construction of facilities in Ashgabat City. Unfortunately, everything has stopped due to the pandemic. I hope that I will be able to come back soon and continue working with Turkmen partners.

Peter Zeman - Head of the Zeman International Group of Companies:

“Our company started working with Turkmenistan back in the period when sports facilities of the famous Olympic village began to be built in Ashgabat. We supplied special metal structures. The competitions of the 2017 Asian Games were held at these sports facilities of the complex, which has no analogues in Central Asia.

Since then, I have formed an opinion about the high level of the construction industry in Turkmenistan and the quality of architectural work. I rarely use such words even in relation to our European partners, but in the process of working with Turkmen specialists, I have formed just such an attitude.

They are very responsible and demanding of themselves and their partners. And we were glad when all the works were accepted with a high quality rating.

Christian Eder – Director of DiproMed:

– A few years ago, our company DiproMed started working with the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan. I came to Ashgabat, where I held a number of meetings with specialists, including the leadership of the Ministry of Health. And then I discussed the details of our first project with Turkmenistan. In January 2020, we made the first delivery of our drugs to Turkmenistan. Rapid tests developed by DiproMed specialists made it possible to make a diagnosis quickly and with high accuracy. The effectiveness of our technique is confirmed by an international certificate.

We successfully completed the first part of the project, but after that the situation in the world with the coronavirus pandemic began to worsen, which frustrated many plans. Nevertheless, we continued our cooperation. Thus, in January last year, the Austrian-Turkmen Society, with the assistance of the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Vienna, organized a video meeting, during which negotiations between Austrian companies, including DiproMed, and representatives of Turkmen public and private structures were held. Then the idea of creating a joint production of medicines was announced. We very much hope for the continuation of mutually beneficial contacts and for the opportunity, having arrived in the beautiful city of Ashgabat, to become witnesses of the Vienna Ball – already the fifth in a row in your hospitable country, where I have established friendly relations with my Turkmen colleagues.

Cambise Gesselhau-director of the German company GessCon GmbH. (He contacted from Cologne, Germany):

– The areas of activity of our company, working in cooperation with other German companies, projects in agriculture- the construction of greenhouses. Also petrochemistry, planning and construction of hotels and exhibition pavilions.

I am very glad that for several years now we have been part of the Austrian-Turkmen Society as a German company. I first met Neda Berger in Ashgabat. She told me about the activities of the Society, and I decided without hesitation to join it.

GessCon has implemented a number of projects in Turkmenistan. But like all of us, well-known circumstances have imposed difficulties on our contacts. But we continued to cooperate through online communication. So we held a video conference with Turkmen partners, where I made a presentation of my own development - the ClimaCon greenhouse climate control system, which makes it possible to double the yield of crops grown in greenhouses.

Our company conducted a series of tests to adapt this development to the natural and climatic conditions of Turkmenistan. Thanks to these studies, its effectiveness has been confirmed in the conditions specific to your country.

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