OREANDA-NEWS. February 18, 2011. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received Eric Stuart, Executive Director of the Turkmenistan-U.S. Business Council.

Greeting heartily the leader of the Turkmen state and expressing gratitude for the opportunity of a personal meeting, the guest cordially congratulated the national leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on the fourth anniversary of his presidency and the upcoming national holiday, the National Flag Day. Mr. Eric Stuart noted that he was very glad of the opportunity to visit Ashgabat again and attended the celebrations in honour of the national holiday.

Mr. Eric Stuart emphasized that an increasing number of U.S. companies expressed the willingness to cooperate with Turkmenistan, which had earned the reputation of being an exceptionally dependable business partner. In this regard a critical role was played by the meetings of the Turkmen leader with the business elite of the United States, which took place in September 2007 in the framework of the President’s visit to New York to participate in the 65th session of the UN General Assembly and became a substantial discussion of the prospects for Turkmen-U.S. collaboration.

Thanking the guest for the congratulations and kind words, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that intensification of mutually advantageous cooperation with leading foreign companies was a key aspect of Turkmenistan’s social and economic development strategy aimed at modernisation of all sectors of the national economy and adoption of best international practices, advanced technologies and know-how. Noting with satisfaction that a number of renowned U.S. companies had been successfully fruitfully operating in our country for many years, the Turkmen leader said that Turkmenistan stood ready to establish productive business contacts with other potential partners from the United States.

A lively exchange of views on the priority fields of Turkmen-U.S. partnership in mutual interests on a long-term basis took place during the meeting. When touching upon the activities of the Turkmenistan-U.S. Business Council, which had conducted several meetings and business forums, emphasis was put on its role as an important component of trade and economic partnership between the two countries.

In particular, the President of Turkmenistan suggested organizing a specialised Turkmen-U.S. forum on development of trade and economic relations between two friendly states in the first half of the current year. The use of this format of cooperation would positively contribute to strengthening mutually advantageous partnership, noted the Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

In this regard such world-renowned companies as Boeing, Caterpillar, Chevron, John Deere, ExxonMobil, Case New Holland, Marathon Oil, Sikorsky, ConocoPhillips, Honeywell and others, which had earned the reputation of being a dependable and promising partners on the Turkmen market, were provided as the examples of dynamic and fruitful cooperation between the U.S. business circles and Turkmenistan.

Present-day Turkmenistan demonstrated a rapid economic growth that laid the most favourable groundwork for intensification of effective collaboration, said Mr. Eric Stuart. New evidence for that were the Turkmen-U.S. political consultations recently held in Ashgabat, which were conducted in accordance with the bilateral agreements reached during the Turkmen leader’s visits to New York. Noting that he was very glad of the opportunity to attend the ceremony of opening the largest bazaar in Central Asia “Altyn Asyr” located in the northern part of the Turkmen capital, the guest said that this important event testified to considerable significance attached in Turkmenistan to development of the private sector.

In conclusion President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and the Executive Director of the Turkmenistan-U.S. Business Council expressed belief that relationships between Turkmenistan and the United States would be continued in new joint projects.