One-on-one bilateral negotiations of the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and the President of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Gani were held in Kabul within official visit of the Head of the Turkmen state to Afghanistan.
In the course of negotiations conducted in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect, Presidents Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Mohammad Ashraf Gani discussed a wide range of issues of the Turkmen-Afghan cooperation, paying special attention to the implementation of the agreements reached on bilateral bases and existing opportunities for further development of mutually beneficial contacts.
Welcoming the successfully growing Turkmen-Afghan cooperation in both, at the bilateral level and within the authoritative international organizations, heads of states emphasized an important role of international cooperation in trade and economic, fuel and energy and transport spheres.
Great significance is attributed to the collaboration on implementation of the project of the construction of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. Implementation of this large-scale project will positively affect social and economic development not only participating countries, but also the states of the region in general. In the area of cooperation in transport and communication sector, construction of the railroad of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan will be one of the most prominent examples.
Power industry was also among the priorities identified by the Turkmen-Afghan partners. As is known, the electricity generated in Turkmenistan is delivered to northern regions of Afghanistan under favourable terms. With completion of construction of facilities of the related infrastructure volumes of these supplies, will even more increased.
The President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has noted that the Turkmen nation is sincerely in full solidarity with the brotherly Afghan people in their aspirations to a peaceful and prosperous life, and having emphasized that Turkmenistan intends to continue to give full support to Afghanistan in its social-economic and cultural developments.
In this respect, in the near future Turkmenistan plans construct and fully equip number of social facilities in the bordering provinces of a neighbouring state. As a concrete example, we could mention here about construction of maternity hospital in the settlement of Turgundy of the Province of Herat, groundbreaking ceremony of which took place at the beginning of this month.
In the wake of meeting, Heads of Turkmenistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan discussed the process of implementation of the agreements reached earlier, the key directions and prospects of further development of the Turkmen-Afghan cooperation benefiting on interests of two neighbouring countries and the people. While also supporting expansion of the Turkmen-Afghan interaction in the trade and economic spheres, leaders of two countries also highlighted need to foster of traditional contacts on humanitarian-cultural area.
