President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, speaking at the Central Asia – Russia summit held on October 14 in Astana, voiced several proposals and initiatives for cooperation.

Ensuring peace, stability and security is becoming the main topic of interaction against the background of the fact that the trends in world geopolitics are far from being positive. The foundations of international law are being eroded, which influences the effectiveness of the work of the UN and other supporting institutions. The meaning and content of interstate relations is changing. The geography of conflicts, threats of terrorism, extremism and radicalism is expanding, the Turkmen leader stated.

In his opinion, under these conditions, the close partnership between the states of Central Asia and Russia is of decisive importance. Today, well-coordinated political and diplomatic work, well-coordinated cooperation between special services, the use of information resources, public institutions to create protective mechanisms that can provide countries and citizens with peace, tranquility and confidence is required.

Serdar Berdimuhamedov noted the importance of preventive measures, highlighting key areas: – counteraction to attempts to destabilize the situation in states;
– ensuring guarantees of protection against threats of terrorism, extremism, cyber and biological danger;
– the fight against the artificial introduction of false meanings and moral guidelines into the public consciousness;
– prevention of potential negative consequences of the general complication of the situation in the world.

The priority of the six-sided cooperation between Central Asia and Russia is the economy. In this context, the President of Turkmenistan pointed to the prospects in such areas as energy, industrial cooperation, textile industry, agro-industrial complex, logistics and trade, and technology.

According to Serdar Berdimuhamedov, it is necessary to stimulate the business communities of the countries to closer contacts and consider the possibility of creating a permanent business forum Central Asia + Russia.

The Turkmen leader paid special attention to the formation of a transport and transit system of continental importance in the region, with access to the World Ocean. President Serdar Berdimuhamedov believes that in this context, the work of the ITC "North-South" can be activated by Turkmenistan, as a country offering the shortest route to the Persian Gulf, to the ports of Iran and from there to India.

In terms of humanitarian cooperation, Serdar Berdimuhamedov proposed holding the Festival of Culture and Arts of the Peoples of Central Asia and Russia in 2023.

The head of Turkmenistan also stressed that in May of this year in Ashgabat, on the initiative of Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the first Inter-Parliamentary Forum "Central Asia – Russia" was held, which became the basis for organizing the current meeting

ORIENT news
Photo: TASS / Aleksey Danichev