Xi meets Turkmen president on deepening cooperation

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 5, 2022. [Photo by Shen Hong/Xinhua]

BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday met with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, expressing readiness to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation on all fronts and build more substantial, vibrant and dynamic China-Turkmenistan relations.

Berdymukhamedov attended Friday's opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Xi said the strategic cooperation between China and Turkmenistan in natural gas has greatly promoted the economic and social development of the two countries and has broad prospects.

China stands ready to work with Turkmenistan to enlarge the volume and scale of natural gas cooperation, expand collaboration in the whole industry chain, and enrich bilateral energy cooperation to raise the natural gas cooperation to a new level, Xi said.

Xi called on both sides to align the Belt and Road Initiative with Turkmenistan's development strategy to revive the Great Silk Road at a faster speed, and strengthen connectivity cooperation.

Xi said China is willing to continue to enhance vaccine cooperation with Turkmenistan, and speed up the establishment of Luban Workshop to help Turkmenistan train more high-caliber skilled personnel.

Both sides should strengthen coordination and cooperation to jointly promote regional peace, he added.

Turkmenistan and China are each other's most sincere and reliable friends and partners, Berdymukhamedov said.

Turkmenistan is willing to work with China to tap potentials and accelerate important cooperation including the construction of Line D of Central Asia-China natural gas pipeline, and expand exchanges and cooperation in other fields to raise Turkmenistan-China ties to a higher level, the Turkmen president said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 5, 2022. [Photo by Li Xiang/Xinhua]