KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 (NNN-Bernama) — The recent Consultative Meeting of the Heads of States of Central Asia, held in Avaza in Turkmenistan, paid special focus to the establishment of favourable conditions for the partnership in the energy sphere and the expansion of cooperation between the region’s countries in the transport-communications field.
This was particularly through the maintenance and effective functioning of existing facilities as well as by forming new transport corridors.
President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, was quoted as saying that “based on the United Nations documents, we are forming in Central Asia favourable political-legal and economic conditions for safe, sustainable partnership, which is oriented at the fulfillment of internal regional demand for energy carriers, as well as directed at the entrance to the world markets via the international transit corridors”.
The Turkmenistan embassy in Malaysia released key inputs of the meeting in a statement to Bernama.
The meeting was attended by the presidents of five Central Asian states – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. A Joint Statement of the Heads of States of Central Asia was adopted at the end of the meeting.
The leaders also exchanged views on the development of trade ties, and increase of export and imports. Agreements were reached on the diversification of mutual trade turnover and industrial cooperation.
Another key focus of the meeting was the consolidation of efforts of the region’s countries on countering the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Presidents agreed to facilitate and encourage joint research in the area of studying the nature of new type of infections, as well as the application of new methods of treatment and prevention of communicable diseases.
A number of parallel events of economic and cultural scope were held, including the Economic Forum of the Central Asian states, International Exhibition of the Products of Central Asian countries, Women’s Dialogue of the States of Central Asia, as well as the International Festival of the National Cuisines of the region’s countries.
In his opening speech, Berdimuhamedov said the meeting was, among others, aimed at the further strengthening of regional cooperation, which is expected to become a strong mobilising factor for effective and constructive participation of the Central Asian region in global affairs.
Meanwhile, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev touched on, among others, the issue of the region’s energy security.
The Uzbekistan embassy in Malaysia quoted him in a statement as proposing to intensify the activities of the Electric Power Coordination Council of Central Asia, expanding its mandate and powers as well as the level of representation of countries.
He said that another effective factor contributing to the rapprochement of the peoples of the region is the tourism sector, thus making it important to actively introduce additional incentives to increase intra-regional tourism. The president proposed to start the practical implementation of the joint programme “One tour – the whole region”, covering the entire range of tourism products.
Mirziyoyev, while pointing out that extensive and integrated transport system can become a key transit hub on the Eurasian continent, also said that the time has come for the adoption of the Agreement on the General Directions of Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation – as it is in the common strategic interests of the Central Asian countries to effectively use the transport and transit potential of the region.
In this regard, Mirziyoyev called for the fullest possible loading of the existing transport corridors and infrastructure, including the ports of the Caspian Sea and large cross-border logistics centres.
In 2017, Mirziyoyev came up with an initiative to organise a Consultative Meeting of Central Asian Leaders to fully realise the potential of the region. The First Summit of Leaders took place in March 2018 in Nur-Sultan, and the second one in November 2019 in Tashkent.
Central Asia is a region of great geostrategic and geo-economic importance. More than 74 million people live in these five countries. The history and culture of the peoples, and the economy and infrastructure of the region’s countries are closely interconnected.
— NNN-BERNAMA
