nCa News and Commentary
President Serdar Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan will travel to Türkiye this week for an official visit. The visit will take place on 25-26 October 2023.
The report about the preparations for the visit was made by the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Turkmenistan, Rashid Meredov, during an online meeting of the cabinet of ministers on 20 October 2023.
The Turkmen president said that Türkiye is one of our country’s closest partners. The large number of important interstate, intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents signed over the past years provide a reliable legal base for the bilateral partnership, he said.
The foreign minister of Türkiye, Hakan Fidan, visited Turkmenistan on 11 October 2023 to synchronize and finalize the agenda of the presidential visit.
During the visit he had extensive consultation with DPM Meredov of Turkmenistan.
nCa Commentary by Tariq Saeedi and Elvira Kadyrova
the visit of the president of Turkmenistan to Türkiye is taking place amidst speedy developments of geopolitical and geo-economic nature across the world in general and the Eurasian landmass in particular.
During the visit of SerdarGB (President Berdimuhamedov) to Türkiye, the sides will upgrade their cooperation in a number of areas including trade, energy, transportation, construction services, interparliamentary cooperation, education, cultural and consular matters.
An area of primary interest for both Turkmenistan and Türkiye is transport and transit. This is a natural outcome of geographic centrality of Turkmenistan; a country that is located at the crossroads of a number of corridors and connectivity options.
Another advantage for Turkmenistan is its preparedness in terms of internal infrastructure to supply the natural gas in all directions. The East-West gas pipeline of Turkmenistan connects almost all of the major gas fields of the country. It is geared to channel the flow of gas in any required direction.
This acquires special relevance as Turkmenistan has reiterated its willingness to supply the gas in the European direction provided its own interests are protected.
A lesson we learned during the Covid restrictions is that the world cannot afford prolonged disruption of the supply chains. This is where Turkmenistan and Türkiye can play a key role in maintaining the flow of goods and products including food products in inter- and intra-regional situations.
The national leader of Turkmenistan and chairman of the Khalk Maslahaty, Arkadag Berdimuhamedov said in his speech at the BRF-2023 in Beijing on 18 October 2023, “Recent realities – a pandemic, increasing instability, decreasing trust and predictability – have negatively affected global economic activity, led to problems in interconnectedness, and reduced the degree of effectiveness of the implementation of plans and programs in the field of sustainable development.”
He also said, “[W]e are talking about a transport corridor from China through the territory of Central Asia to the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea, as well as to Iran, the Near and Middle East. This corridor can also be used in the opposite direction – to the Asia-Pacific region and the countries of South Asia.”
He said further, “Today, in our opinion, the concept of political logistics is in demand. I see it as a multi-level system of interaction between states that share ideas and prospects for economic development and cooperation, free from politicization and ideological clichés, based on equality, mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests. ‘
The visit of the president of Turkmenistan to Türkiye is more than likely to help streamline some of the ongoing connectivity and cooperation processes.
In fact, in all the bilateral and multilateral interactions during the recent past, Turkmenistan has maintained a consistent position. —– The policies of Turkmenistan are rooted in its neutrality and the neutrality of Turkmenistan is a living organism. The possibilities are always unfolding as the neutrality of Turkmenistan keeps coming into contact with the new and emerging ground realities. /// nCa, 23 October 2023
#Turkmenistan, #Türkiye