On September 29, 2023, the working visit of the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the Federal Republic of Germany was concluded.
During the visit, the Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan held a number of important meetings, both at the bilateral level and within the framework of the format of the heads of delegations of the Central Asian states and Germany.
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev also took part in the meeting of the heads of delegations in the "Central Asia + Germany" format, held in the format of a business breakfast chaired by the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
During his speech, the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized the importance of this event, designed to make an important contribution to the expansion of mutually beneficial partnership between the states of Central Asia and Germany. As noted, Turkmenistan welcomes the initiative to create a new multilateral format and is ready to expand partnership in all areas of common interest.
Today, the countries of Central Asia intend to further develop cooperation aimed at creating conditions in the region to ensure the well-being of the peoples of our countries. In this context, the Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan stressed that among the modern problems, the most pending issues are security, socio-economic development, ecology and humanization of international relations.
The heads of delegations of the Central Asian states and Germany exchanged views on conceptual issues of multilateral trade and economic contacts, expanding dialogue in the humanitarian sphere. According to the mutual opinion of the participants, the countries have all the prerequisites for intensifying effective cooperation, and the results of the high-level event and the promising areas for further cooperation in the “Central Asia + Germany” format identified during this will give new impetus to productive partnership aimed at concrete results.
Within the framework of his working visit to Germany, the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov took part in a meeting of the heads of delegations of the Central Asian states on the topic "Joint formation of a strategic future - strengthening economic cooperation between Central Asia and Germany".
The Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan also took part in the business event, chaired by the Head of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and the Shareholders' Committee of “Claas KGa GmbH” Katrin Claas Mühlhäuser, and the German side was represented by the State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Udo Philipp, Federal Minister for Special Assignments, Head of the Federal Chancellery of Germany Wolfgang Schmidt, heads of “Linde GmbH”, “GP Günter Papenburg AG”, “Knauf”, “Ernst Klett AG”, “DB Engineering and Consulting” and “BayWa AG”.
In his speech, the National Leader of the Turkmen people, noting that this platform will give a powerful impetus to the formation of a new level of economic cooperation between Central Asia and Germany, emphasized that today the region attracts more and more attention from foreign companies. This is due to the presence of huge reserves of natural resources and great human potential.
The strategically important geographical location of Central Asia, which occupies an area of about 4 million square kilometers, allows us to talk about the prospects for creating a transport and logistics hub of continental significance here, as well as the possibility of making a significant contribution to solving the global food problem.
Speaking about the economic potential of Turkmenistan, the Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty cited some macroeconomic indicators. So, at present, about 200 facilities are being built in the country with a total value of almost 10 billion US dollars. Turkmenistan's GDP growth for 8 months of 2023 amounted to 6.2 percent. The amount of annual investment in our economy is equal to 18-19 percent of GDP. At the same time, the share of foreign investment is up to 12 percent of their total volume.
Also during his speech, Hero-Arkadag outlined the key areas of cooperation between Turkmenistan and Germany.
During the meeting, the participants discussed the prospects for six-party cooperation, the possibilities of expanding trade and economic relations and mechanisms for filling them with practical content, including through the implementation of projects in various sectors.
The National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov took part in the meeting of the heads of delegations of the Central Asian states with the head of the Government of Germany Olaf Scholz, which was also attended by the Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Speaking at the meeting, the National Leader of the Turkmen people stressed that the holding of the current events will be a significant milestone in the development of cooperation between the Central Asian states and Germany.
Speaking about specific issues on the agenda, the National Leader of the Turkmen people focused on a number of key topics. Among the first, security was identified, which, being a basic need for the life of any society, requires an integrated approach. The second is to create conditions for economic development. Here, the most relevant issues are the provision of energy resources, the creation of transport connectivity, the solution of water and food issues, the synergy of scientific and technological progress with industries and effective financial and investment mechanisms.
The third direction, as Hero-Arkadag emphasized, is ecology and "green transformation". Based on the fact that the topic of climate change and the introduction of environmentally friendly technologies is at the top of the global agenda, Turkmenistan fully supports the efforts of the world community in this direction, forming the necessary legislative framework, making efforts to introduce low-carbon technologies, and working to join the Global Methane Commitment.
The fourth aspect is the cultural, social and humanitarian spheres, said the Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan. Learning each other's languages, getting acquainted with the original culture and history of our peoples, promoting human contacts, exchanging knowledge - all this brings invaluable benefits.
As part of his working visit to Germany, the National Leader of the Turkmen people took part in the Turkmen-German business forum.
Also, the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov held bilateral meetings with Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz and Deputy Federal Chancellor of Germany, Federal Minister for Economy and Climate Protection Robert Habeck.