OREANDA-NEWS. August 6, 2010.  Turkmenistan-Afghanistan political consultations were held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. A representative delegation of the neighbouring country led by Eklil Hakimi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan had arrived in the Turkmen capital to participate in the meeting.

Thanking for the heartfelt welcome extended in the Turkmen land, the guests conveyed the warm greetings to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and expressed profound gratitude for assistance and overall support provided on a regular basis to the Afghani people in strengthening the foundation of a peaceful and happy life and Afghanistan’s social and economic revival.

Pursuing the policy of good neighbourliness and brotherly relations with the southern neighbour, Turkmenistan remains profoundly interested in ensuring lasting peace and security in this country. This is evidenced by a number of the important initiatives put forward by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to elaborate interconsistent approaches to addressing Afghanistan-related problems.

The meeting participants stated that Turkmenistan’s firm position was illustrated by dozens of important projects implemented in various spheres in the past years. Turkmenistan makes a profound contribution to developing social and economic infrastructure in Afghanistan by exporting electric power at the reduced price over many years. Under the contracts Turkmen specialists constructed power supply facilities including power substations and power transmission lines connecting the two neighbouring countries

The head of the delegation of the neighbouring country noted that the people of Afghanistan was deeply grateful to their Turkmen brothers and would always appreciate substantial assistance provided by neighbouring Turkmenistan.

The consultations between the foreign ministries that testified to mutual interest of the two neighbouring countries in establishing long-term full-scale partnership promoted exchange of views on the priority fields of further collaboration and the approaches to implementing the agreements reached earlier.

The discussion of the key aspects of traditional cooperation spotlighted Turkmenistan’s readiness to contribute further to Afghanistan’s economic revival and develop far-reaching plans that would create the conditions conducive to stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan as well as give a powerful impetus to enhance regional cooperation. In particular, these included the important energy and transport projects to increase electric power supplies towards Afghanistan and construct a railway from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan initiated by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and supported by countries in the region.

It was noted that Turkmenistan and Afghanistan that had the advantageous geographical location for transit freight flows across their territories in the north-south, east-west directions and could concert efforts with other countries to implement the large-scale energy project for construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.

Underscoring the importance of intensifying the intergovernmental dialogue and strengthening the ties of friendship between the two neighbouring peoples bound with spiritual, historical and cultural affinities over many centuries, the participants of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan political consultation expressed belief that cooperation that had been offered new incentives and filled with a new content in recent years would be maintained effectively.