Xi Jinping Speaks with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and President-elect Serdar Berdymukhamedov on the Phone

On the afternoon of March 16, 2022, President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and President-elect Serdar Berdymukhamedov.

Xi Jinping congratulated Turkmenistan on its successful presidential election, and once again congratulated Serdar Berdymukhamedov on his election as president of the country, wishing Turkmenistan new and greater achievements in the "Revival of a New Era of a Powerful State".

Xi noted that China-Turkmenistan relations have achieved leapfrog development in recent years, with the two sides having established a strategic partnership and bilateral cooperation in various fields reaching the highest level in history. China attaches great importance to its relations with Turkmenistan, and will continue to firmly support Turkmenistan's domestic and foreign policies, and firmly oppose external interference in Turkmenistan's internal affairs. China stands ready to work together with Turkmenistan to build on past achievements to lift bilateral relations to higher levels and jointly build an even closer China-Turkmenistan community with a shared future.

Xi stressed that China-Turkmenistan cooperation is a full testament to the high-level mutual trust and sincere friendship between the two countries. The two sides have signed a five-year inter-governmental cooperation plan, which has laid out a road-map for all-round cooperation between China and Turkmenistan in the coming years and identified the key areas and priorities for cooperation. He also noted the need for the two sides to continue to promote cooperation in energy, natural gas and other fields, and to build up synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Turkmenistan's strategy to revive the Great Silk Road, so as to make the cake of mutually beneficial cooperation ever bigger to deliver more new outcomes and improve the well-being of the two peoples. Noting the complexity and sensitivity of the current international and regional situation, Xi said that it is important for the two sides to maintain timely communication, close cooperation and mutual support on major issues, uphold true multilateralism, and contribute to greater democracy in international relations as well as international fairness and justice.

Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Serdar Berdymukhamedov spoke highly of the achievements in the development of bilateral relations in recent years, saying that the Turkmen side will continue to firmly pursue the policy of friendly cooperation with China, and is ready to make joint efforts with China to actively promote all-round practical cooperation between the two sides in various fields. They expressed the confidence that Turkmenistan-China relations will continue to grow from strength to strength and bring more benefits to the two peoples.