Marking 30 years of ties with Turkmenistan

President Xi Jinping and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov exchanged congratulations on Jan 6, the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Turkmenistan, with both leaders vowing to intensify the nations’ pragmatic and mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation.

In his message to Berdymukhamedov, Xi hailed the sound development of bilateral ties in the past three decades, saying that the countries’ relations have brought tangible benefits to the two nations and their peoples and made important contributions to safeguarding regional peace and stability.

He said that China was the first country to establish diplomatic ties with Turkmenistan, it was one of the first countries to support its policy of permanent neutrality, and it was the first strategic partner of Turkmenistan established in the form of a political document.

In his message to Xi, Berdymukhamedov said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties, Turkmenistan and China have carried out all-around cooperation in the broadest scope, and set up a unique multilevel coordination mechanism.

China has been a major trading partner of Turkmenistan for several years in a row, which vividly represents the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, said Berdymukhamedov.

Turkmenistan considers its ties with China to be of great importance, he said, adding that it is ready to work closely with China on the basis of equality, mutual respect and accommodation of each other’s interests, and spare no effort to take Turkmenistan-China ties to a higher level.