President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who arrived in Ashgabat on a working visit.
The sides exchanged views on the current state and prospects of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation. The head of state and the Russian Foreign Minister had a detailed discussion of the pace of implementation of the agreements reached during Russian President Vladimir Putin's official visit to Turkmenistan in October 2017.
It was stressed that the Treaty on Strategic Partnership between Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation that entered into force serves as the basis for implementation of all plans, opening up opportunities for interaction in various spheres - political, trade, economic and humanitarian.
In this regard, the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation is of great importance in implementing the multi-faceted potential of the two countries. The Commission will hold its regular meeting in the first quarter of this year. Among other issues, the Commission plans to discuss further cooperation in the oil and gas sector. In this regard, the President of Turkmenistan expressed satisfaction that the Turkmen-Russian dialogue on gas issues aims to search for new, large-scale agreements.
At the meeting, the President of Turkmenistan and the Russian Foreign Minister exchanged views on a number of topical international issues relating to ensuring peace, security and sustainable development. In this regard, the sides confirmed mutual intention of the two countries to continue strengthening the traditional cooperation both bilaterally and multilaterally, primarily through the UN, the CIS and other international organizations and structures.
The sides paid special attention to the topic of cooperation in the Caspian Sea. In this regard, Sergey Lavrov highly rated Turkmenistan's approach that helped to solve many important issues on the Caspian Sea.
The sides also discussed the events to be held under Turkmenistan's chairmanship of the CIS in 2019, including meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers, heads of state and government, the Economic Council, the Forum of Art and Scientific Intelligentsia and others.