President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov during his speech at the Central Asian Summit in the city of Cholpon-Ata in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday stated the importance of further developing transport cooperation among the regional countries.
Turkmenistan believes that today the trade-economic and investment cooperation of the Central Asian states should acquire a strategic orientation, namely, turning the region into one of the foundations for the formation of a new geo-economic landscape of Eurasia, the Turkmen President said, adding that “the cornerstone of this strategy is transport and logistics.”
“I believe that the efforts of our countries can and should be aimed at achieving the main goal of creating a powerful and modern infrastructure that would ensure the unification of transport systems in Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region,” President Berdimuhamedov told the summit, the Turkmen official media reports.
He added that Turkmenistan is ready to work together to develop the Central Asia-Caspian-Black Sea and Central Asia-Persian Gulf transport routes.
Berdimuhamedov reminded that Turkmenistan will host the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked Developing Countries in August and proposed to hold a separate meeting of heads of transport agencies of Central Asian countries on its sidelines.
He stated that the meeting’s agenda will include the possibilities of increasing cargo flows both within the region and to the external directions, from Central Asia to China and Europe.
“Speaking of the transport importance of the region, we can reasonably set an ambitious but realistic goal of making it an integral part of the revival of the Great Silk Road,” President Berdimuhamedov emphasized.
The Fourth Consultative Meeting of Heads of Central Asian States was attended by Turkmen President, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. They adopted a joint statement following the summit.