Turkmen, Chinese leaders discuss prospects for cooperation in gas, transport sectors

ASHGABAT. Sept 3 (Interfax) - Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov held a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a working visit to China, with the heads of state discussing, among other things, the prospects for cooperation in the gas and transport sectors, the newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan reported on Wednesday.

The parties noted that the gas industry serves as a strategic area of bilateral economic cooperation. A confirmation of this is the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, which has been operating successfully for more than 15 years.

The meeting emphasized that both countries are currently working on expanding cooperation in the gas sector, and concrete results are being achieved in this area, the newspaper said. In particular, Berdimuhamedov announced that the Chinese side had won an international tender for developing the fourth phase of the large Galkynysh gas field.

A draft framework agreement on the main principles of gas cooperation has also been prepared, he said.

Berdimuhamedov and Xi Jinping also discussed cooperation in the Central Asia-China format in the transport sector.

The parties noted that Turkmenistan's Revival of the Great Silk Road strategy and China's Belt and Road initiative are essentially compatible and complement each other. They are based on the development of open and effective economic, trade and investment cooperation as well as the integration of dynamically developing regions of the Eurasian continent into a unified geo-economic space founded on the principles of mutual benefit, consideration and balance of multilateral interests, long-term partnership and sustainability, they said.