Turkmen, Russian Top Diplomats Discuss Regional Security Issues

The Turkmen and Russian foreign ministers have discussed pressing regional and international issues and signed three documents on bilateral cooperation.

“The Turkmen and Russian foreign ministers, Rashid Meredov and Sergey Lavrov, discussed during the talks a wide range of bilateral cooperation issues and exchanged views on pressing regional and international political issues,” the website of Turkmen Foreign Ministry reported on February 22.

The top diplomats had “agreed to step up the efforts aimed at creating conditions to continue mutually beneficial constructive cooperation between the two countries.”

A Turkmen government delegation led by Meredov visited Russia at the instruction of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. The Turkmen foreign minister also met a Deputy Head of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Ilhomjon Nematov, to discuss the forthcoming presidential election in Turkmenistan.

As a result of the Turkmen delegation’s visit to Russia, the sides adopted a joint statement on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Government officials from Turkmenistan and Russia also signed a roadmap for cooperation in regional security issues and a plan for implementing the main directions of the bilateral cooperation in ensuring international information security covering 2022-2025. In addition, a plan of events dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries was adopted.

In recent years, the Turkmenistan-Russia bilateral relations have experienced an upswing. President Berdimuhamedow made the strategic change in the country’s foreign policy, expanding trade and economic cooperation with Russia, foremost in the energy sector, but also in other fields. Turkmenistan and Russia agreed on the construction of the Caspian Coastal Pipeline together with Kazakhstan that would have increased the volume of Turkmen gas exported to Russia by roughly 20-30 billion cubic meters.

Turkmennebit, the state concern of Turkmenistan, recently agreed with the Russian Tatneft to increase production at Turkmenistan’s onshore Goturdepe oil and gas field. Turkmennebit and Tatneft have been cooperating at the Goturdepe field for more than 13 years. Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister Shahym Abdrakhmanov said on January 19 that an additional agreement will be signed on the provision of services aimed at increasing the capacity of existing oil wells in the Goturdepe area.