On April 15, National Leader of the Turkmen People and Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, met with Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and First Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, who arrived in our country on behalf of Chinese President Xi Jinping, TDH reports.

Warmly welcoming the guest, the National Leader of the Turkmen People noted that the current visit of the Chinese delegation to Turkmenistan is an important event demonstrating the high level of Turkmen-Chinese cooperation.

Ding Xuexiang emphasized that his country attaches great importance to strengthening its partnership with Turkmenistan and took the opportunity to convey warm greetings from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The First Vice Premier of the State Council of China noted that Turkmen-Chinese relations, based on mutual respect and equality, currently serve as a model of effective interstate cooperation. He also emphasized Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov's enormous contribution to advancing bilateral cooperation.

The guest also noted the significance of the recent friendly visit of the National Leader of the Turkmen People to China, stating that its results constituted an important step in strengthening the strategic partnership between our countries.

Expressing his best wishes to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that Turkmenistan, which consistently implements its "open door" policy, attaches great importance to developing friendly ties with China. Today, fruitful interstate relations, based on the principles of mutual understanding and trust, are being enriched with new content.

As noted during the meeting, our countries coordinate their efforts internationally within major international organizations, primarily the UN and the Central Asia-China format. The parties demonstrate shared views on key issues on the global agenda. Systematic support for each other's initiatives within international structures confirms the strong political trust between Turkmenistan and China.

The dialogue established at the highest state level, opening up great opportunities, serves as a solid foundation for close political and diplomatic cooperation, and provides additional favorable conditions for the development of economic, trade, cultural, and humanitarian ties.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that Turkmenistan supports and will continue to support China's initiatives within the UN. The Turkmen leader noted the importance of China's global initiatives such as Security, Civilization, Development, and Governance.

All of this is consistent with the goals and philosophy of Turkmenistan's international initiatives such as "Peace through Development" and "Dialogue – Guarantee of Peace," as well as our country's strategic vector of establishing the principles of dialogue, trust, equality, and mutual respect in global politics, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted.

During the exchange of views on the current state of cooperation prospects, it was noted that Turkmen-Chinese relations cover a wide range of areas, including political and diplomatic, trade and economic, fuel and energy, transport and communications, logistics, industrial, technological, and cultural and humanitarian spheres.

Fuel and energy partnership is a priority area of bilateral cooperation. A clear example of this is the ongoing joint gas pipeline project, which transports Turkmen gas to China. In accordance with a document recently signed by the President of Turkmenistan, the next stage of development of the Galkynyş gas field will begin jointly with the Chinese corporation CNPC.

In this regard, Ding Xuexiang expressed gratitude to President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and the National Leader of the Turkmen People for creating favorable investment conditions for Chinese companies to effectively operate in Turkmenistan.

The alignment of Turkmenistan's strategy to revive the Great Silk Road with China's Belt and Road Initiative is opening up new horizons for partnership in the transport and logistics sector.

Trade-economic cooperation is also showing steady growth. China is one of our country's largest trading partners. Cooperation is actively developing in the textile industry, agriculture, and high technology.

In this regard, the National Leader of the Turkmen People confirmed Turkmenistan's readiness to further develop a fruitful partnership with China.