President of China Xi Jinping in a meeting with President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov on Thursday in Uzbek city Samarkand emphasized the need for the two countries to expand natural gas cooperation, the Foreign Ministry of China said in its press release.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
President Xi said that since China and Turkmenistan established diplomatic relations 30 years ago, the two countries have enjoyed sustained growth of bilateral relations, and the strategic partnership has reached a high level. He added that China will continue to work with Turkmenistan to firmly support each other, advance bilateral relations and deliver more benefits to the two peoples.
The Head of China also noted the need to accelerate cooperation in non-resource fields and to synergize the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with Turkmenistan’s strategy to revive the Great Silk Road.
In a meeting, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov said Turkmenistan highly values its strategic partnership with China, and is ready to further deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with China in different fields including economy and trade, natural gas, cross-border transportation, and humanitarian and cultural areas.
Turkmenistan firmly supports the one-China principle, the Turkmen President stated, adding that the country is ready to work with China to build stronger synergy between the BRI and Turkmenistan’s strategy to revive the Great Silk Road, and closely cooperate with China within multilateral formats.