OREANDA-NEWS. November 27, 2009. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Prime Minister of the Italian Republic Silvio Berlusconi held the talks in Rome.

In the afternoon the President’s cortege headed for the building of the Council of Ministers of Italy where the Prime Minister of the Italian Republic Silvio Berlusconi warmly greeted the Turkmen leader.

Exchanging the friendly handshake the Turkmen leader and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Italy walked along the red carpet reviewing the guard of honour. Then President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov introduced of the Turkmn participants of the meeting to the Italian Prime Minister and Silvio Berlusconi introduces the members of the official Italian delegation to the honorary guests.

Then the President of Turkmenistan and the Prime Minister of Italy entered the building of the Council of Ministers. The head of the Italian government invited the Turkmen leader in his office where they held one-to-one talks.

Heartily greeting the honorary Turkmen guest and thanking for accepting the invitation to pay an official visit to the Italian Republic Silvio Berlusconi said that this meeting marked a new important new chapter in the history of the intergovernmental dialogue. Informing of Italy’s willingness to establish full-scale cooperation with Turkmenistan, the Prime Minister expressed belief that these talks would allow identifying the priority trends in mutually advantageous partnership and make is more dynamic to meet the mutual interests and modern realities.

Expressing sincere gratitude for the heartfelt welcome and hospitality the President of Turkmenistan said that the prospects for Turkmen-Italian cooperation and its impressive potential created the requisites for intensifying and diversifying the fruitful contacts. The Turkmen leader said that Turkmenistan viewed Italy as a good friend and dependable business partner with whom it intended to further actively cooperate.

During the meeting the sides discussed a wide range of issues and specified the priorities of Turkmen-Italian cooperation. The promising fields of collaboration included trade and economy, fuel and energy sector, industry, transport and communications, agriculture and tourism. Underscoring the importance of humanitarian cooperation Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Silvio Berlusconi called for the strengthening and expanding cultural, scientific and educational contacts between Turkmenistan and Italy.

The sides exchanged views on the regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Then the members of the government delegations of Turkmenistan and the Italian Republic joined in the talks.

Heartily greeting the honorary guests and members of the Turkmen delegation the Italian Prime Minister expressed belief that this visit would create new incentives to foster the fruitful bilateral relations, which the vast opportunities and prospects existed for.

In this context Silvio Berlusconi expressed overall support for the Turkmen leader’s proposal put forward during the talks to establish the Turkmen-Italian intergovernmental commission that would aim its activity at developing the optimal approaches to cooperation and its particular fields.

Touching upon the need to establish versatile partnership the Italian Prime Minister showed intense interest in the concept of the development of new cities including the establishment of necessary infrastructure that was being implemented in Turkmenistan. Noting that Italy had the profound experience in urban planning Silvio Berlusconi said that his country stood ready to offer this experience to Turkmen partners, provide assistance in training highly qualified personnel and send Italian specialists to Turkmenistan.

The Italian Prime Minister mentioned tourism – the sector that was rapidly developed in Turkmenistan as a priority field of effective cooperation. The head of the Italian Government highly evaluated the great potential of the project on creation of Avaza national tourism zone – the world-class seaside resort on the Caspian Sea coast. In this regard Silvio Berlusconi put forward the proposal to send a group of Italian journalists to Turkmenistan, who would make a film about the country and show it in Italy. This film could advertise Turkmenistan, its economic potential and ways to establish mutually advantageous cooperation.

Sharing Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s opinion about the need to further enhance the intergovernmental relations at a diplomatic level Silvio Berlusconi called for opening the Embassy of the Italian Republic in Turkmenistan and the Embassy of Turkmenistan in the Italian Republic in the future that would contribute to intensifying the dialogue.

Noting that Turkmenistan successfully developed the constructive dialogue with the European Union and other authoritative international organisations including OSCE the Italian Prime Minister said that this dialogue had been filled with a new content and brought up to a higher level in recent years.

Emphasizing that he shared the Turkmen leader’s onion about the existing possibilities to establish full-scale cooperation the head f the Italian Government reaffirmed keen interest of the large Italian business companies in the promising Turkmen market. 

Thanking Silvio Berlusconi for the invitation to pay an official visit to the Italian Republic and to favourable conditions created for the fruitful work of the Turkmen government delegation Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that this visit was viewed in Turkmenistan as a qualitatively new stage in the history of the friendly relations between two countries. The Turkmen leader said that it was very important for Turkmenistan that the Turkmen-Italian dialogue was initially built on quality and mutual respect and aimed at developing effective mutually beneficial cooperation.

Turkmenistan and Italy had a positive experience of cooperation in the political, trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov continued noting that the basic factor for the successful development of bilateral ties was the high level of mutual understanding of urgent problems of the modern world. In this context the Turkmen leader thanked the Italian partners for supporting Turkmenistan’s foreign policy initiatives aimed at concerting global efforts to achieve global security and stability, in particular building the international legal mechanisms of preventive diplomacy and conflict prevention. As is known, on the initiative of Turkmenistan the United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia with the headquarters in Ashgabat was opened in December 2007. On the proposal of Turkmenistan was also by the UN General Assembly adopted the Resolution on Reliable and Stable Transit of Energy and Its Role in Ensuring Sustainable Development and International Cooperation in December 2008. This document is the first one in the world aimed at creating the system of guarantees of energy transit at the global and regional levels.

Focusing on the relations of Turkmenistan with the Italian Republic as a member state of the European Union Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that Italy’s active position in the EU was essential for the implementation of the EU strategy for Central Asia. In this regard cooperation between the two countries would profoundly contribute to enhancing the Turkmenistan-EU dialogue. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that these prospects had the real and firm foundation. Both countries: Turkmenistan - in Asia, and Italy - in Europe had the advantageous geopolitical and geoeconomic location, maintained and developed good relationships with the close neighbours that, in its turn, created the conditions conducive to constructive partnership between the Asian and European countries.

The Turkmen leader said that the high dynamics of the bilateral relations was embodied in progressive development of trade and economic contacts and noted that Italy ranked among the largest foreign trade partners of Turkmenistan. Thus, a number of the Italian companies were implementing the joint projects in the key sectors of Turkmen economy and the social sphere. The trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Italy amounted to USD 1.524 billion last year. In this context Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov expressed belief that the investment projects providing for diversification of imports and exports as well as the spheres of profitable investments would foster fruitful partnership. Being interested in substantial investments, advanced technologies, state-of-the-art machinery and equipment produced in Italy in compliance with international standards, Turkmenistan could significantly increase exports of petrochemicals and oil products to Italy and considerably broaden the range of exported goods, including textiles, minerals and other products.

Noting that today the favourable conditions had been created for foreign partners in Turkmenistan the Turkmen leader welcomed the Italian companies’ interest in implementing joint projects. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that Italian investment could play a significant role in further modernizing the fuel and energy sector, transport and communication infrastructure in Turkmenistan that was ready to consider any proposals on construction of industrial and processing plants, transport infrastructure facilities.

The President invited the Italian partners to collaborate in developing Turkmenistan’s tourism industry the symbol of dynamic development of which was Avaza national tourism zone on the Caspian Sea coast.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that the bilateral business forums contributed to expanding mutually advantageous business contacts and highly evaluated the effectiveness of these meetings. Touching upon the importance of establishing the intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation as an effective tool to further enhance bilateral relations, the Turkmen leader put forward the proposal to open the trade missions in Italy and Turkmenistan in two capitals.

The President of Turkmenistan characterized regular top-level contacts and joint work of the government institutions and diplomatic missions as an essential condition of successful Turkmen-Italian cooperation. In this regard Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov focused on the need to continue conducting bilateral consultations between the foreign ministers on a regular basis that allowed specifying the fields of cooperation and exchanging views on problems and challenges of the modern world.

Focusing on the primary importance of deepening Turkmen-Italian cultural and humanitarian contacts, the President called for establishing fruitful cooperation in the spheres of science and applied research and put forward the proposal to open the Turkmen-Italian research centre in Ashgabat. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that the Italian partners’ experience could be effectively applied to provide training and retraining to Turkmen specialists in the high technology spheres including electronics, computer and information technologies.

The Turkmen leader informed of the intention to expand the scope of the educational programmes, including training of qualified personnel in the important aspects of economics, management and social services.

The President of Turkmenistan invited the Prime Minister of Italy to visit Turkmenistan. This invitation was accepted with gratitude. The dates of the visit would be adjusted through the diplomatic channels.

Upon concluding the talks the ceremony of signing the bilateral documents was held in the presence of the President of Turkmenistan and Prime Minister of Italy.

In particular, the partners signed the Agreement on Support and Protection of Investments between Turkmenistan and the Italian Republic; the Memorandum for Scientific, Educational and Cultural Cooperation between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Italian Republic; the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan and the Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Handicraft and Agriculture of Italy; the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Agency for Hydrocarbon Resources Management and Use under the President of Turkmenistan and Eni S. p.A Company.

Upon concluding the talks the Turkmen-Italian Communique was adopted

Upon concluding the ceremony the President of Turkmenistan and the Prime Minister of the Italian Republic held the press conference.

Addressing the press conference Silvio Berlusconi underscored the great prospects of Turkmen-Italian cooperation the partners intended to further maintain and enhance. Touching upon the priorities of partnership the Italian Prime Minister mentioned agriculture as a basic sector of Turkmen and Italian economies. Highly appreciating the effectiveness of the talks, which had resulted in signing the package of the important documents, Silvio Berlusconi said that an exchange of views on the essential aspects of Turkmen-Italian relations and the current international issues had taken place. The Italian Prime Minister noted that the vast opportunities for cooperation that guaranteed the further success of bilateral cooperation existed.

In this context Silvio Berlusconi said that the embassies of the Italian Republic and Turkmenistan would be opened in Ashgabat and Rome in the near future.

Addressing the journalists the President of Turkmenistan expressed sincere gratitude to the Italian partners for the constructive talks that had been held in the traditional atmosphere of openness, mutual understanding and confidence intrinsic of bilateral relationships. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that the talks had been focused on the current state and prospects of Turkmen-Italian cooperation, the issues of regional and international policy and had resulted in signing the documents and identifying the fields for further collaboration.

Emphasizing that Turkmenistan and Italy had the similar or close views on many important international issues the Turkmen leader said that an essential factor in maintaining and intensifying the political dialogue was effective cooperation on the priority issues of global development between Turkmenistan and Italy on a world arena. The illustrations of this cooperation included the support of Turkmenistan’s initiative on reliable and stable energy transit by Italy as a co-author of the relevant resolution.

Noting that this visit was being paid against a background of intensification of the Turkmenistan-EU dialogue Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that Europe was a strategic vector on the agenda of the priorities of Turkmenistan’s foreign policy strategy. In this context Turkmen-Italian cooperation would promote joint activities under the EU programmes and projects.

The Turkmen leader said that Turkmenistan and Italy built their policies on the principles of peace, equality and non-interference in internal affairs of other states, and the talks between the two countries had highlighted their commitment to these fundamental principles of international politics. The Turkmen leader emphasized that the status of neutrality was the unshakable foundation of Turkmenistan’s foreign policy.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov continued that Turkmen-Italian cooperation had broad prospects and substantial potential to use them and expressed belief that the agreements reached in Rome would provide new incentives to further enhance bilateral relations. For this purpose consideration had been given to the establishment of the Turkmen-Italian intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation and the opening of the trade missions of two countries in Ashgabat and Rome. The partners specified the development and expansion of contacts in the economic sphere, the fuel and energy sector, telecommunications and textile industry had been specified as the priority trends in partnership.

The President of Turkmenistan said that the partners had agreed to intensify cultural and humanitarian cooperation prioritizing joint research in the field of high technologies, training of highly qualified specialists and personnel advanced training.

In conclusion the Turkmen leader addressed the wishes of peace and wellbeing to the friendly people of Italy.