On May 26, a meeting of special representatives for Afghanistan in the format "Central Asia – European Union" was held in the building of the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan, which was attended by the EU Special Representative for Central Asia Teri Hakkala. At the end of the meeting, she gave an interview to the press service of the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, answering several questions.

— How do you assess this format of interaction between Central Asia and the EU on Afghanistan and how will you comment on the results of the current meeting?

— I want to emphasize that this is our 4th meeting in this format, and after the pandemic we are meeting in person for the first time. We are grateful to the Turkmen side for the excellent organization of the meeting.

I think this format is quite successful, because we in the EU highly value the knowledge, contacts and understanding of the diplomacy of Central Asian countries, especially Turkmenistan - you know your neighbors well, especially from the inside. Therefore, I believe that we have created a sufficiently effective platform, and the fruitful bilateral meetings on the sidelines of our meeting are proof of that.

Every time we can discuss in depth the possibilities of developing our cooperation on Afghanistan issues. So, as the European Union, we highly appreciate this format. At today's meeting, the importance of such meetings was stated. At the same time, within this format, we can flexibly cooperate and use the experience and knowledge of our partners' region. So we are happy to continue the dialogue in this format.

— How do you assess the current state of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the EU, both at the bilateral and multilateral levels?

— Speaking about our cooperation in a multilateral format, I want to note that relations are developing in a positive way. The proof of this is the fact that Turkmenistan these days has provided us with a good platform for discussing issues of our (EU-CA) multilateral cooperation. At the same time, Turkmenistan takes an active part in all forms of our interregional cooperation. I think that we have a progressive development of relations. At the same time, I would like to note that there is a solid potential for building up our ties on multilateral platforms.

We always emphasize that cooperation with Central Asia is very important for us. Because if we talk about interconnectedness, the region is very important for us both in political and economic aspects. Also in our interregional context, we pay close attention to the issues of security, climate change and ecology.

As for bilateral cooperation, we can also note the intensification of our relations in various areas: three years ago we opened an EU representative office in Ashgabat and this was a big step on the part of the European Union to show that Turkmenistan is an important partner for us in the Central Asian region.

Over the years, our representative office has been working closely with the Government of Turkmenistan in various spheres of the economy, on issues of regional security, the environment, culture, education and youth policy. In general, we have a number of promising niches in the bilateral format, and therefore I hope for further strengthening of our relations.

— What is your assessment of Turkmenistan's efforts on the Afghan track, in the peaceful settlement of the Afghan issue?

— I want to emphasize once again that Turkmenistan is doing a lot in this direction. This is evidenced by the statements of our speakers at the meeting, who unanimously noted the importance of the efforts of the Turkmen side in the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan. Turkmenistan, being a neutral state, is doing a huge humanitarian work in the Afghan direction. You have centuries-old ties with the Afghan people, established political and economic ties with this country.

I would even say that at the same time Turkmenistan behaves very modestly, that is, it does not PR and does not advertise itself around. Much has been said today that, despite such a difficult situation in Afghanistan, your country is intensively carrying out humanitarian work and is actively involved in resolving its issues peacefully.

In this regard, I would like to note that the EU greatly appreciates Turkmenistan's efforts in the peaceful settlement of the Afghan problem and your country is an important partner for us on this issue in the region.

Material provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan