OREANDA-NEWS. September 26, 2011. On September 22, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who is on a visit to New York to participate in the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, had a meeting with President of the European Commission Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso.

Cordially greeting each other, the sides expressed satisfaction with an opportunity to discuss aspects of cooperation between Turkmenistan and EU member states and issues of international politics of mutual interest during a new personal meeting.

Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso put emphasis on the importance and topicality of the international initiatives put forward by the leader of Turkmenistan to ensure global security and stability and facilitate sustainable development in the region and all over the world stating that the European Union supported the progressive foreign policy strategy pursued by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

The EC President expressed gratitude to the Turkmen leader for giving his utmost assistance in promoting the constructive Turkmenistan-EU dialogue established in recent years and built on mutual confidence and reaffirmed that the European Union intended to foster close contacts with Turkmen partners on the bi- and multi-lateral basis, in particular in the framework of the successful long-term EU Central Asia Strategy.

In this context the President of Turkmenistan and the President of the European Commission discussed a number of issues regarding international and regional politics, the current state and prospects for developing cooperation between Turkmenistan and the European Commission under the ongoing and future projects and programmes. These particularly involved expansion of trade and economic partnerships and humanitarian contacts. The energy sector where Turkmenistan-EU partnerships met the interests of global energy security was mentioned as a priority area. The leader of the Turkmen state emphasized that developing this sector as well as the foreign policy strategy, Turkmenistan was guided by the open door principle and invited European companies, many of which operated effectively in the country, to wide mutually advantageous cooperation in the fuel and energy sector.

Reaffirming that Turkmenistan was committed to the European vector of the national policy, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stated that the tremendous potential of the country enabled to implement ambitious international projects in the interests of all parties involved.

A focus of the talks was the prospects for expanding Turkmenistan-EU partnerships to work toward the common goals and objectives to ensure peace and global security.

The President of the European Commission cordially congratulated President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on the 20th anniversary of Turkmenistan independence and expressed the best wishes to the Turkmen people and their leader. Thanking for the hearty wishes, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov invited President of the European Commission Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso and his colleagues to visit Ashgabat during the celebrations in honour of the 20th anniversary of independence and attend the festivities to mark the historic date. Thanking for the invitation, the EC President invited the leader of the Turkmen state to visit the EU Headquarters in Brussels at any convenient time.

Upon concluding the meeting, the sides reaffirmed that Turkmenistan and the European Union stood ready to bring collaboration to a qualitatively new level and make it more dynamic that met global interests and modern requirements, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso exchanged the wishes of every success in performing the noble mission to promote the dialogue of friendship and cooperation between Turkmenistan and EU member states.