OREANDA-NEWS. February 6, 2008. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received Chairman of the Board of the Donbass Industrial Union Sergey Taruta.

Thanking for the opportunity of a personal meeting the guest conveyed the greetings and best wishes on behalf of President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko to the Turkmen leader and informed that he had arrived in the Turkmen capital to discuss the issues of bilateral co-operation.

Greeting the guest Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that Turkmenistan and Ukraine were bound with the centuries-old ties of friendship and co-operation that the Turkmen people highly appreciated. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov called for intensifying and improving the Turkmen-Ukrainian relations.

The Ukrainian partners were implementing the large-scale projects in Turkmenistan including the project on construction of the railway bridge across the Amu Darya River. During the working trip to the Lebap Velayat last month the Turkmen leader visited the construction site and had the meetings with the Ukrainian specialists. The President of Turkmenistan made the critical remarks about the Ukrainian partners’ failure to perform the construction works according to schedule. The President demanded that the defects should be eliminated within a one-month period. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov also demanded that the Ukrainian companies would comply with their commitments under the large-scale project on construction of the tunnel in Ashgabat.

The measures taken upon the Turkmen leader’s trip to the Lebap Velayat enable to resume the construction works under the projects. The head of Ukraine’s largest corporation Donbass Industrial Union, who had arrived to the Turkmen capital on the instruction of President Viktor Yushchenko, aimed his visit at promoting the projects.

Informing of the measures the Ukrainian partners had taken to improve the situation Sergey Taruta expressed the readiness to put the company’s potential at the service of the interests of Turkmen-Ukrainian co-operation. In this regard the guest put forward the specific proposals to employ the capacities and expertise of the Donbass Industrial Union to solve the problems in implementing the projects on construction of the bridge and tunnel.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov approved the Ukrainian partners’ proposals in whole and put emphasis on the significance of the large-scale facilities for Turkmenistan’s further social and economic development.

In this regard the interlocutors agreed the following steps on the successful fulfillment of the designated tasks. The head of the Ukrainian company informed that for these purposes a special working group would be organized and the measures would taken to ensure the logistical support of the project on constructions of the railway bridge and to accelerate the construction works.

The issues related to resuming the air communication between the capital cities of two countries were discussed during the meeting.