OREANDA-NEWS. January 27, 2010. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov left Ashgabat for an official visit to the Republic of Belarus. The high-ranking officials of the Mejlis and cabinet ministers bade farewell to the Turkmen leader at the Ashgabat International Airport.

A few hours later the President’s plane landed in the Belarusian capital in the Minsk-2 National Airport decorated with the national flags of the two friendly countries. Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Sergei Sidorskiy, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Martynov and other officials greeted President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the airport. It should be noted that among those welcoming the Turkmen leader at the airport were the Turkmen young people, who studied at the higher educational establishments in Belarus. Greeting the Turkmen students the President talked to them about their studies and life. The students expressed heartfelt gratitude to the leader of the Turkmen state for providing active support for the younger generation of Turkmenistan, an opportunity to receive education and training in compliance with international standards at the foreign higher schools as well.

Then the President of Turkmenistan and Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus had a brief conversation over a cup of tea in the VIP Hall of the Minsk-2 Airport.

From the airport the President’s cortege headed for the Zaslavl residence.

The first visit of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the Republic of Belarus ranking among the important events in the history of the intergovernmental relations is to give new incentives to enhance the fruitful Turkmen-Belarusian dialogue. That this dialogue has been filled with a new concrete content in recent years is illustrated by the results of the fruitful top level talks in Ashgabat. A significant step to put the agreements in practice is the implementation of the large-scale joint project on construction of the first ore-dressing and processing plant in Turkmenistan that will produce potash fertilizers. As is known, the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new plant – the firstborn of Turkmenistan’s mining industry took place with the participation of Presidents Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Aleksander Lukashenko. The top level meeting in Minsk is another vivid evidence of the partners’ commitment to the policy of full-scale partnership with the profound potential implementation of which will contribute to increasing the welfare of the fraternal peoples of Turkmenistan and Belarus. In this regard it should be noted that some days before the Turkmen leader’s visit to the Belarusian capital the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Belarusian commission for economic cooperation conducted a working meeting, the agenda of which focused on the critical issues of further collaboration.

In the first half of the day the President’s cortege headed for the residence of the President of the Republic of Belarus where the official ceremony of meeting the honorary Turkmen guest took place. Aleksander Lukashenko heartily and friendly greeted Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on the square in front of the residence, where the flags of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Belarus were raised.

Upon concluding the ceremony the leaders of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Belarus held the one to one talks in the Blue Hall.

Greeting cordially the honorary guest Aleksander Lukashenko emphasized that he was glad to welcome the Turkmen leader in the Belarusian land. The Belarusian leader said that this visit of the President of Turkmenistan was viewed in Belarus as an event of special significance in the history of international relations that had been brought at a qualitatively new level today.

Thanking his Belarusian counterpart for inviting to visit the Republic of Belarus on an official visit and the heartfelt welcome extended in the Belarusian land Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov reaffirmed Turkmenistan’s readiness to intensify mutually advantageous partnership invariably built on equality, mutual confidence and respect for mutual interests with the friendly country. The Turkmen leader expressed belief that this visit would contribute to strengthening the ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries opening a new chapter in the history of dialogue between Turkmenistan and Belarus.

In the friendly and constructive atmosphere the Presidents of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Belarus reviewed the progress in implementing the agreements and exchanged views on a wide range of the aspect of interstate cooperation, specified the priorities of partnership at the current stage. The two leaders discussed the regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Then the government delegations of two countries joined in the talks in the Belarus Hall.

Thanking the Turkmen leader for accepting the invitation to visit the Republic of Belarus on an official visit, President Aleksander Lukashenko expressed the hope that the very busy visit schedule would allow the Turkmen partners to learn more about the country, from the economic point of view as well, underscoring the Belarusian partners’ intense interest in full-scale cooperation with Turkmenistan that was viewed in Belarus not only as a strategic partner but also a good friend. The Belarusian leader expressed belief that these top level talks, the agreements and documents to be signed in Minsk would strengthen the foundation of Turkmen-Belarusian cooperation as well as enable to create the conditions conducive to further expanding and deepening of bilateral relationships.

Aleksander Lukashenko noted that Turkmenistan and Belarus had much in common including the similar views on the critical international issues of the modern world, the willingness to further develop constructive cooperation on maintenance of global peace, security and stability, particularly within the framework of the UN. The President of the Republic of Belarus expressed support for Turkmenistan’s views on international energy cooperation where the countries’ approaches based on the interests of all partners concerned coincided for the most part.

Noting with satisfaction that over the past year Belarus and Turkmenistan had achieved the positive dynamics of trade and economic cooperation, Aleksander Lukashenko said that even in difficult conditions of the world economic crisis the bilateral trade had increased by 50 percent. The President of the Republic of Belarus emphasized that the high rates of economic growth demonstrated by Turkmenistan in conditions of the world financial crisis testified to the correctness of the national development strategy pursued by the national leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

In 2009, Belarus and Turkmenistan managed to intensify the activity in a number of the traditional sectors as well as laid the foundation for developing cooperation in the new fields, Aleksander Lukashenko continued. The Belarusian leader provided an illustrative example of the joint project on construction of the ore-dressing and processing plant producing potash fertilizers in the Garlyk deposit in Turkmenistan. This was a landmark stage in Turkmen-Belarusian relations that would promote bilateral cooperation in all related industries, President of the Republic of Belarus said. “We are grateful to Turkmenistan for choosing Belarus as a partner, this is very important for us,” Aleksander Lukashenko said. Belarus highly appreciated such a benign attitude and would respond the same good things for this, the Belarusian leader stressed.

Reaffirming Belarus’s willingness to expand fully mutually advantageous cooperation, Aleksander Lukashenko said that Belarus stood ready to continue delivering agricultural, freight and road-building equipment to Turkmenistan technology as well as propose the new schemes for deliveries of machine building products. The Belarusian leader said that an important component in the bilateral dialogue was collaboration in the sphere of science and technologies.

Touching upon humanitarian cooperation with collaboration in the sphere of education as one of its critical aspects Aleksander Lukashenko said that Belarus stood ready to further partnership in this sphere, in particular training highly qualified specialists for various sectors of Turkmen economy.

Expressing belief that Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s visit to the Republic of Belarus and the results of the Minsk summit would contribute to enhancing bilateral relations that were being brought up to a qualitatively new level today, the Belarusian leader expressed the best wishes to the friendly people of Turkmenistan.

Thanking Aleksander Lukashenko for the heartfelt welcome and the excellent conditions for effective collaboration Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that this visit was taking place against the background of the mutual endeavours to boost bilateral relations and expand the forms and fields of collaboration. The Turkmen leader said that the past year was particularly fruitful in this regard: the solid package of the documents on cooperation in various fields had been signed during the visit of the President of the Republic of Belarus to Turkmenistan. At that time the joint project on construction of the largest ore-dressing and processing plant in Central Asia had been launched.

The President of Turkmenistan continued that all this showed that the Turkmen-Belarusian relations had an excellent future. The mutual willingness of our countries to make bilateral relations long-term and consistent, the understanding of the importance to strengthen them further, the full-scale implementation of the existing vast potential of partnership was obvious, the Turkmen leader said emphasizing that the relationships established between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Belarus were characterized by mutual respect, equality and openness. Developing the constructive dialogue we relied on the traditions of friendship and mutual sympathy of the Turkmen and Belarusian peoples, the common social and moral values that our states stood steadfast to pursuing their domestic policy, the commitment to the principles of peace, humanism and justice in international affairs. This, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said, was the firm foundation for mutual understanding on the major issues of global development, close cooperation between Turkmenistan and Belarus on the world arena.

In this regard the Turkmen leader said that the summit in Minsk had confirmed the determination of the two countries to further contribute to maintaining global peace and security, promote enhancing the role of the United Nations and the inviolability of the principles set forth in the UN Charter and other fundamental documents. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that the Republic of Belarus and Turkmenistan had the similar views on the global development issues such as encouragement of an equal dialogue between all member countries of the community of nations, the respect for sovereignty of states, the right of nations to choose their own model of political and state structure. Our country, the President of Turkmenistan emphasized, called for the world without wars and conflicts, for justice and equality in international relations, enhancement and active use of the negotiation mechanisms for settling disputes. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that in this context the parties had agreed to further close collaboration that had proved its effectiveness in the framework of the international organisations, particularly the UN, and provide support to all constructive ideas and undertakings of the international community.

Focusing on the current state and prospects for trade and economic ties that had been recently brought up to a higher level, the President of Turkmenistan expressed belief that the parties had every necessary requisite to bring Turkmen-Belarusian partnership at the level meeting the real potential and objective needs of the two countries. These included the legal framework for cooperation, keen mutual interest, the established practice of regular contacts at the governmental level. However, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted, the turnover volume, the pace of investment activity between two countries did not fully meet the existing potential. In this context the Turkmen leader underscored the need to intensify the work of the intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation to foster the fruitful business dialogue and fill it with the practical content.

This need was conditioned for Turkmenistan by the strategy for diversifying the national economy and adopting innovations in the economic sphere. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that in this regard cooperation with the Republic of Belarus could be of great mutual benefit. Turkmenistan was interested in the expertise and technologies offered by the Belarusian partners in such sectors as chemical and food industries, agriculture and stood ready to intensify cooperation in road transport, machine-building, electrical engineering, pharmaceutical industry, communications and telecommunications sectors. Furthermore, our country intended to foster effective cooperation with the Belarusian enterprises in deliveries of agricultural machinery.

The Turkmen leader emphasized that Turkmenistan in its turn provided the opportunities to expand partnership in the fuel and energy sector and increase the export of textiles and light industry goods to Belarus. With a view to enhancing trade and economic contacts Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov put forward the proposal to hold a joint business forum involving the state-run and private companies and enterprises and the exhibitions of economic achievements of both countries that would make partnership more concrete.

Specifying cooperation in the cultural, humanitarian, scientific and educational spheres as a priority of the Turkmen-Belarusian relations, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov underscored the existing profound experience of cooperation and good traditions that were backed by the concrete bilateral agreements. The leader of Turkmenistan said that the parties had agreed to continue cooperation in these spheres, encourage the existing intense interest of the Turkmen and Belarusian peoples to the history, culture and art of each other and promote expanding humanitarian contacts. The endeavours to further develop cooperation in personnel training and research activities between the educational institutions of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Belarus and provide the opportunities of training Turkmen young people at the educational establishments in Belarus were of particular importance in this context.

Also, the President of Turkmenistan suggested considering the possibilities to hold the Days of Turkmen Culture in Belarus and the Days of Belarusian Culture in Turkmenistan in 2010-2011.

Expressing belief that this visit, the effective talks and fruitful agreements would be another landmark stage in the history of bilateral relations, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov expressed gratitude to President Aleksander Lukashenko for the active attention and profound personal contribution to strengthening friendship and cooperation between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Belarus. In conclusion the, President of Turkmenistan expressed the wishes of peace, wellbeing and prosperity of the Belarusian people.

The ceremony of signing the bilateral documents took place upon concluding the talks.

To the applause of those present Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Aleksander Lukashenko put their signatures to the Joint Turkmen-Belarusian Communique and the Agreement between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Belarus on Trade and Economic Cooperation on the deliveries of Belarusian agricultural, automotive equipment and urban vehicles.

The Agreement on the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Belarusian Commission for Economic Cooperation between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Belarus; the Agreement on the mutual recognition of certificates of education, scientific degrees and titles between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Republic of Belarus; the Agreement on the establishment of the trading houses in Turkmenistan and the Republic of Belarus between the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Relations of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Belarus; the Agreement of Cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan and the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation between S. Niyazov Turkmen Agricultural University and the Educational Institution Belarusian State Academy; the Agreement on Mutual Cooperation between the Turkmen Polytechnic Institute and the Belarusian National Technical University were signed during the ceremony.

It should be noted that the solid package of the documents testifying to the high effectiveness of the President’s official visit to the Republic of Belarus included the Framework Agreement on additional exploration and development of the Karabil potassium deposit in Lebap Velayat between the Turkmenhimiya State Concern and the Belgorkhimprom Public Corporation, which was signed upon concluding the working meeting of the Turkmen-Belarusian Commission for Economic Cooperation before the Turkmen leader’s visit to Minsk.

Upon concluding the ceremony of signing the documents that vividly proved the success of the Turkmen-Belarusian summit the President of Turkmenistan left the residence of the President of the Republic of Belarus for the Victory Square.

Paying tribute to the valorous heroes of the Belarusian people the President of Turkmenistan laid a wreath of wonderful flowers to the Victory Monument.The members of the Turkmen government delegation and the official representatives of the Republic of Belarus took part in the solemn ceremony.

In the afternoon the leader of the Turkmen state visited the Minsk-Arena Cultural and Sports Centre.

Director General of the Minsk-Arena Cultural and Sports Centre N. Ananyev and Acting Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee N. Ladutko accompanied the distinguished during an excursion round the Centre. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov showed keen interest in the functional capabilities of each facility, the technologies of construction and equipment of the Centre and watched the sportsmen making exercises there. This interest was of practical significance. As is known, the development of the mass physical culture and sport movement was a priority of Turkmenistan’s policy in the epoch of new Revival.

During the excursion round the ice arena President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov told the Belarusian partners about the Ice Palace built in Ashgabat and noted that that today the conditions conducive to developing various sports including winter sports such as hockey and figure skating were being created in Turkmenistan encouraging young citizens of Turkmenistan to go in for sports. Then the Turkmen leader visited the tennis court and talked to the young tennis players about their accomplishments.

The Belarusian construction companies had arranged the presentation of their potential, products and innovative technologies in the Minsk-Arena Centre for the President of Turkmenistan. These included the Keramin Public Corporation, the Gomelsteklo Public Corporation, the GomelStroyMaterialy Public Corporation, the Republican Unitary Enterprise Institute Belgosproekt, the Lidselmash Public Corporation, the Borisov plastic works, the Molodechnensk plant of construction ironworks, the BelNIIZ Research Institute and others. They presented a variety of building and finishing materials and innovations in these industries to the Turkmen leader.

The pictures and drawings of the projects successfully implemented in the country including housing, health care, sports, industrial, industrial, transport and communication facilities vividly showcased the Belarusian partners’ potential and achievements. Accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Burya President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov visited the exposition and showed keen interest in the Belarusian partners’ proposals.

The enterprises specialized in other sectors including the Atlant Public Corporation made the presentations of their products and technologies to the honorary guest. In particular, the Public Corporation presented the samples of household appliances and refrigeration equipment.

Thanking for the interesting excursion and exposition the Turkmen leader noted that the experience, know-how and technology offered by the Belarusian partners could be effectively applied in practice in Turkmenistan that had launched the where large-scale programme and very promising projects in the sphere of urban planning, development of rural areas of regions, modernization of social, economic and cultural infrastructure.

Biding heartfelt farewell to the participants of the presentation, the President of Turkmenistan left the Minsk-Arena Cultural and Sports Centre.

In the evening President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksander Lukashenko gave an official dinner in honour of the Turkmen guest, during which the leaders of two countries exchanged the speeches.