TURKMENISTAN PRACTICAL STEPS TO PROMOTE EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

The first days of June (June 2) are marked by a working meeting held with the participation of the Chairman of the Board of the Baltic-Black Sea Economic Forum Volodymyr Makukha and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkmenistan in Ukraine Toyly Atayev.

Turkmenistan is one of the reliable partners in international projects initiated by the Baltic-Black Sea Economic Forum and one of the benchmarks in effective developing international partnership in countries of the Baltic Sea Region, eastern shores of the Caspian Sea and Central and South Asia. To confirm this, the fact of acceptance of the governmental plan for the development of foreign economic activity of Turkmenistan for 2020-2025 should be noted. One of the plan points includes the necessity of establishing cooperation between the modern Turkmenbashi International Seaport and Baltic-Black Sea Economic Forum. As Ambassador Mr. Atayev has said, “International projects initiated by the Baltic-Black Sea Economic Forum and aimed at developing effective cooperation in European and Central Asian countries, are perceived with respect in Turkmenistan.”

During the working meeting, Mr. Toyly Atayev has reported on new opportunities for developing collaboration in various sectors of the economy, which will be facilitated by persistent and effective actions of the President and Government of Turkmenistan. In particular, Mr. Atayev has mentioned improvement of transport and logistics capabilities of Turkmenbashi International Seaport, established ferry service with the Azerbaijan Port of Baku and further shipment of goods by rail to the Black Sea ports of Georgia. New options for deepening cooperation between the members of business community in European and Central Asian countries are promoted by extensive railway routes that pass through Turkmenistan, in particular, a railway connection between Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan with access to Turkmenbashi International Seaport. Special emphasis has been given to the opportunities that persistent cooperation between Turkmenistan and Turkey opens up for business.

Special mention has been made to the importance of using transport and logistics capabilities created by Turkmenistan in order to deepen collaboration with the countries of the Baltic Sea Region and Central and South Asia in standing against starvation and ensuring food security. Mr. Toyly Atayev has positively assessed the progress of an international team of the Baltic-Black Sea Economic Forum in this strategically important area of international cooperation. In addition, Mr. Atayev has estimated the information provided by the Chairman of the Board, Volodymyr Makukha, regarding the strategies defined last year during a working meeting with the First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Taras Vysotskyi, for developing international collaboration in agriculture, including production and supply of fertilizers. Furthermore, results of a series of meetings held by the representatives of the Forum international team with government officials of Lithuania and Poland have been highlighted. Ambassador Mr. Atayev has noted the importance of an international cooperation area where Turkmenistan has significant achievements related to the production of high-quality fertilizers with the use of modern equipment.

Moreover, participants of the working meeting have pointed up the consequence of joint efforts aimed at achieving intergovernmental agreements on reducing customs duties when shipping agricultural products and fertilizers from the countries of the Black Sea basin to the countries of Central Asia. The above-mentioned work will foster agricultural producers (i.e., Ukrainian ones) open up new possibilities for supplying their products to the countries of Central and South Asia and, as Volodymyr Makukha considered, will provide new opportunities for business representatives from Asian and European countries to create new joint enterprises in producing new types of fertilizers and processing agricultural products.