China and Turkmenistan strengthen relationship with practical cooperation

China and Turkmenistan on Wednesday agreed to deepen practical cooperation in various areas and promote cooperation to yield more substantial results to usher in a better future.

The pledge was made by visiting State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in Nur-Sultan, capital city of Kazakhstan. They are in Kazakhstan to attend the third China + Central Asia foreign ministers' meeting.

Wang said the strategic partnership between China and Turkmenistan has achieved new results and called for the two countries to fully implement an important consensus reached by the two heads of state.

Noting energy cooperation is an important part of strategic cooperation between the two countries, Wang said China remains unchanged in expanding bilateral energy cooperation and viewing Turkmenistan as an important strategic partner in energy.

China is willing to expand the whole-industry-chain cooperation and scale up cooperation on energy, Wang added.

Meredov said the frequent high-level exchanges between the two countries showed the high-level of bilateral relations.

The two heads of state met in February this year and reached important consensus, which laid a solid political foundation for and injected strong impetus into bilateral cooperation, he said, adding the cooperation would not be disrupted by external political elements.

The two sides agreed to accelerate alignment between the China's Belt and Road Initiative and Turkmenistan's development strategy to revive the Great Silk Road.

The two sides pledged to support each other in institutions such as the United Nations. Meredov said Turkmenistan actively supports the China-proposed Global Development Initiative and would like to explore concrete measures with China to join the initiative.

The two sides would further strengthen cooperation in cyber security and biosecurity and improve global governance.

They agreed to make the "C+C5" mechanism strong and inject robust momentum into bilateral cooperation.

The two sides decided to strengthen unity and cooperation to maintain peace in the region. Meredov said Turkmenistan adheres to the policy of permanent neutrality and advocates for a political settlement of disputes through peaceful and diplomatic means.