Turkmen president congratulates Azerbaijan on joining regional cooperation platform

President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov congratulated President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on Azerbaijan’s accession to the format of consultative meetings of Central Asian countries as a full-fledged participant.

He made the statement at the 7th Consultative Meeting of Heads of States in the “Central Asia + Azerbaijan” format, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

“I would also like to congratulate Ilham Heydarovich Aliyev on Azerbaijan joining our format as a full member,” he said.

Berdimuhamedov noted that security issues are a priority in cooperation among Central Asian countries. In addition, the vast potential of the regional countries makes it necessary to further develop cooperation, particularly in strategically important sectors such as transport, energy, trade, manufacturing, and technological collaboration.

According to Berdimuhamedov, today Central Asia is regarded as a key international transport and transit corridor.

“It is already clear that this role will only grow, given the trends of shifting economic and investment activity towards East and South Asia, as well as the Near and Middle East. Our countries need to significantly strengthen the transport component of our cooperation. To this end, we should begin active and substantive participation in the creation of combined East-West and North-South corridors,” he noted.

Berdimuhamedov also emphasized that Turkmenistan is ready to discuss further concrete steps to strengthen energy partnership.