On 6 July, 2019 Rashid Meredov, Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister, met with the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Ms Federica Mogherini in Ashgabat.
The state information agency TDH reports that at the meeting the mutual aspiration of Turkmenistan and the EU to strengthen partnership in security and combatting global threats.
According to the media outlet, which quotes Mogherini as saying, “the European Union highly appreciates and supports international initiatives put forward by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, which are committed to working out the solutions to resolve current issues causing concerns of the global community”.
Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry reports that “the sides also discussed important projects in the field of developing transport systems and regional energy infrastructure, including the construction of the TAPI gas pipeline”.
As a result of the talks, the parties signed “the Agreement between the Government of Turkmenistan and the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community on the Establishment and the Privileges and Immunities of the Delegation of the European Union in Turkmenistan”.
After that Federica Mogherini held a meeting with Chairperson of Turkmenistan’s Mejlis Gulshat Mammedova. The video features Mammedova presenting the diplomat with the book devoted to the carpet weaving art, the book authored by President Berdymukhammedov “Celestial beauty” and the carpet.
On 7 July Federica Mogherini arrived in Bishkek to attend the “the EU Central Asia” forum bringing together the Central Asia Foreign Ministers.According to Radio “Azatlyk”, at the event the official emphasized that “the European Union wants to see Central Asia strong and stable.
For this end significant progress needs to be made to address poverty issues and protecting women’s rights”.
The provision of additional financial aid to the Central Asia countries was voiced at the end of the meeting.Apart from 1 billion dollars, which are envisaged to be invested into the region from 2014 to 2020, the EU is scheduled to allocate additional 72 million euro to implement the aid program, Radio “Azatlyk” reported.
Let us recall that in the run-up to the visit of the EU delegation to Turkmenistan, international human rights organizations Human Rights Watch (HRW) and International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) forwarded the statement to the EU High Representative to remind about the appalling human rights record in Turkmenistan.