PRESIDENT SERDAR BERDIMUHAMEDOV ATTENDED THE CIS HEADS OF STATE SUMMIT

On October 8, 2024, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, who arrived the previous day on a working visit to the Russian Federation, took part in the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States held in Moscow.

In the afternoon, the head of Turkmenistan proceeded to the Grand Kremlin Palace, which was the venue for the CIS Summit. Here, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov was warmly welcomed by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev also arrived in Moscow to participate in the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State.

After the ceremony of joint photographing of the Summit participants in front of the national flags of the Commonwealth member states and the CIS flag, a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State took place in a narrow format.

Welcoming the Summit participants, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin noted the fullness of the agenda of the meeting covering a wide range of cooperation issues in the CIS format, including economic issues, prospects for trade and investment cooperation, opportunities for launching new large mutually beneficial projects in various sectors and humanitarian ties.

Then the Heads of State gave speeches.

At the beginning of his speech, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov first of all expressed his gratitude to the President of the Russian Federation for hospitality, warm welcome and excellent conditions for work.

Before turning to the subject of the meeting, the Turkmen leader once again congratulated the Russian leader on his birthday.

Continuing his speech, the head of Turkmenistan noted that the current year for the CIS was marked by the realization of the main priorities and tasks. These are strengthening of security and stability, deepening of economic partnership, expansion of humanitarian ties.

As President Serdar Berdimuhamedov further noted, at the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government held in Ashgabat in May this year, agreements were reached and specific tasks were set for further deepening of economic partnership. The priorities include transportation, energy, industrial cooperation and a number of other areas. Turkmenistan fully supports this approach.

Turkmenistan attaches special importance to the cooperation of the CIS countries in the project of the North-South transport route along the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea with further access to Iran and further to the Indian Ocean seaports. In this regard, the head of Turkmenistan voiced a proposal to start a substantive discussion and agreement on unified tariff, customs, visa and other preferences for the countries participating in the project.

In the energy sector, Turkmenistan stands for expanding the volume and geography of energy supplies across the CIS and beyond. We are talking about both raw material supplies and electricity. Our country considers the establishment of conditions for a green economy in the CIS and the formation of economic and production clusters based on low-carbon energy as a very important area of cooperation.

- Turkmenistan highly appraises the fact of participation of high level delegations of the CIS countries in the International Forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of Magtymguly Fragi to be held in Ashgabat on October 11,” President Serdar Berdimuhamedov said, expressing sincere gratitude in this regard.

At the end of his speech, the President of Turkmenistan expressed gratitude to the Russian Federation for its effective chairmanship in the Commonwealth, and also addressed words of appreciation to CIS Secretary General Sergey Lebedev for the coordination of collaboration and contribution to the preparation and successful hosting of this meeting.

Then the Summit continued in the enlarged format, with the participation of members of the delegations of the CIS countries.

The results of the Commonwealth's activities for the current year, concretized the priority areas of cooperation and tasks for the coming period were analyzed at the meeting.

Expressing their commitment to the traditional constructive dialog, the participants of the summit reaffirmed their mutual readiness to intensify fruitful cooperation built on an equal, long-term and mutually beneficial basis.

The Summit ended with the ceremony of signing the final documents. Among them is the Decision of the CIS Council of Heads of State on the presidency of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2025, which passes to the Republic of Tajikistan. The Russian Federation and Turkmenistan will be co-chairing during this period.

After completing his working visit to the Russian Federation, the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov proceeded to “Wnukowo-2” International airport from where he flew to the Motherland.