Turkmenistan pays a great attention to the development of peace in the region and the world

The following article and picture materials have been provided by the Embassy of the Republic of Turkmenistan in Seoul for publication by The Korea Post media, publisher of 3 English and 2 Korean-language news publications since 1985.—Ed.

Adhering to its foreign policy based on the principles of positive Neutrality, peacefulness, good neighborliness, the “Open doors” policy and broad cooperation, Turkmenistan is constantly working on strengthening and increasing the effectiveness of its political, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation with neighboring and distant countries, with the United Nations and its entities, as well as other major international organizations.

The Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan, the National Leader of the Turkmen people H.E. Mr. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov with the President Yoon Suk-yeal (right) of the Republic of Korea
The Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan, the National Leader of the Turkmen people H.E. Mr. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov with the President Yoon Suk-yeal (right) of the Republic of Korea

The 31st anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Korea is celebrated on 7 February 2023. It is worth mentioning that Turkmenistan and the Republic of Korea have similar views on regional and global issues. Based on mutual respect and trust, Turkmen-Korean cooperation has reached a qualitatively new level.
Turkmenistan by being one of the large volume exporters of the energy resources always acts with initiatives to create stable system of delivering energy resources to the world markets, to work out efficient ways and drafts of having mutual beneficial relations in the energy markets and providing reliable pipeline system to the continents.
Furthermore, Turkmenistan pays a great attention to the development of peace in the region and the world, provision of global security, popularization of healthy way of life principles and international cooperation.
A special place in the development of bilateral relations between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Korea is assigned to the development of contacts at the highest level, including the exchanges of the visits of the Heads of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Korea, as well as to the inter-parliamentary cooperation. In recent years, we can observe a noticeable intensification in the development of interaction between the two countries in this area.
The official visit of the Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan, Arkadag – the National Leader of the Turkmen people His Excellency Mr. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the Republic of Korea took place on 26-30 November 2022.
In the framework of the official visit to the Republic of Korea visit His Excellency Mr. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov met with the President of the Republic of Korea His Excellency Mr. Yoon Suk-yeol, the Speaker of the National Assembly His Excellency Mr. Kim Jin-pyo. 
 The main topic of the discussion was the current state of the bilateral relations and prospects of the further development of the inter-governmental cooperation.
During the talks that followed, the President of the friendly country noted that he was glad to see Arkadag Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in the Republic of Korea.
Thanking the Hero-Arkadag for accepting the invitation to pay an official visit to the Republic of Korea, President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed confidence that their meeting would write a new page in the history of the bilateral relations.
Expressing confidence that the visit of Arkadag Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov would be a significant milestone in strengthening the bilateral dialogue, President Yoon Suk-yeol gave the floor to the Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan.
Thanking for the kind words and hospitality, the Hero-Arkadag noted the friendly contacts and comprehensive cooperation between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Korea were consistently developing.
The Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan said that over the past period tremendous work aimed at strengthening the Turkmen-Korean relations has been carried out.
During the meeting, the esteemed Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that Turkmenistan was promoting the philosophy of dialogue of trust in the interstate relations, based on which it took the initiative to create a mechanism of strong political and legal guarantees for the development of intergovernmental relations, based on generally recognized international legal norms and in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
In this regard, the Chairman noted that Turkmenistan was putting forward a new philosophy of international relations “Dialogue is a guarantee of peace”, based on specific well thought-out political criteria, healthy positive pragmatism and universally recognized human values understandable for all.
The Arkadag Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov mentioned that Turkmenistan will host the Korea-Central Asia Forum in 2023 and that this decision was aimed at strengthening the security and ensuring peaceful development.
The Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan, Arkadag – the National Leader of the Turkmen people Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov also met with the Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo.
Hero-Arkadag said, “We view parliamentary diplomacy as a tool for maintaining an atmosphere of peace, cooperation and mutual understanding. This is its main purpose, essence and function. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to promote positive initiatives, to show courage in actions and to offer the world community new approaches to finding ways to prevent and extinguish conflicts and to reconcile positions. I am convinced that all this will bring a positive result”.
As Kim Jin-pyo noted, the bilateral agreements reached in a number of areas, the implementation of which was of economic benefit to both parties, were intended to bring people closer and to attach a constructive character to the interaction between the two countries.
Expressing confidence in the further expansion of the fruitful partnership between two countries, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea emphasized the great importance of the initiatives and proposals put forward by the Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
Kim Jin-pyo said that new vectors of cooperation were emerging in the information technology, fuel and energy sectors, the textile industry and the agricultural segment, the development of which would positively affect the strengthening of the economies of both countries, and expressed the confidence in enhancing the exchange of experience in the field of urban planning and architecture.
In conclusion, expressing gratitude to the Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea noted that agreements on the supply of new passenger buses to Ashgabat, which strengthened its position as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, were being successfully implemented. Kim Jin-pyo also noted that the Korean side was glad that the Korean language courses were being held in the capital of Turkmenistan and great attention was paid to the expansion of Korean language classes.
At the end of the meeting, to the applause of the participants of the meeting, the Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea Kim Jin-pyo signed the Memorandum of Mutual Cooperation between the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan and the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.
In the framework of the visit Arkadag Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov took part in a business forum and held a number of meetings with the heads of leading South Korean companies. 
The forum was attended by the heads of the following companies and structures of the country - "Hyundai Engineering", "Hyundai Corporation", "Hyundai Motor", Export-Import Bank of Korea "KEXIM", "LX International Corp.", "Omnisystem Co Ltd", "Daewoo Engineering & Construction, Korea Marine Equipment Research Institute (KOMERI), MESCO, National Institute for the Development of Korean Medicine, Chilgok Clinic at Kyungbuk National University, KITECH Convergent Technology Center, KD Navien.
As it is well known Turkmenistan pays special attention to modern development of the transport logistics sphere, construction of internationally important routes and increase of potential of transport transit corridors.
Arkadag Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that the Turkmenbashi International Seaport, located on the important crossroad of Europe and Asia, is a significant project of transport infrastructure, making an emphasis on enormous opportunities of the seaport in transportation of goods from the Republic of Korea to European countries.
Then there was a ceremony of signing bilateral documents between the government entities and business circles of the two countries.
Among them was the Memorandum of Understanding between the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan and the Korea International Trade Association; the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Frontier Service of Turkmenistan and the Hyundai Corporation; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Türkmenawtoulaglary Agency of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan and the Hyundai Corporation on expanding trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation; the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Committee for Water Economy of Turkmenistan and the Hyundai Corporation; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan and Hyundai Engineering on the development of a project, provision of equipment and construction of a plant for the production of ammonia and urea in the Balkan region; the Memorandum of Understanding and Confidentiality Agreement between the Türkmenhimiýa State Concern and Daewoo Engineering & Construction.
Upon completion of the signing of the bilateral documents, the head of the Korea International Trade Association, on behalf of the representatives of the business structures of the Republic of Korea, expressed deep gratitude to the Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty for the meeting and meaningful speech. He also expressed his confidence that the event would give a powerful impetus to the further development of the interstate relations.

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