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By Ofeliya Afandiyeva

Azerbaijan and Central Asian country Turkmenistan have signed around 20 agreements, including a Joint Declaration that are aimed at developing cooperation between the two countries, during Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s official visit to the country on March 11..

President Ilham Aliyev stressed the importance of the Joint Declaration inked with Turkmenistan during a press conference following the signing of the documents.

“Among the signed documents, I would like to highlight the Joint Declaration of the heads of state, which reflects our intentions, our assessment of the situation in the world and in the region, and our aspirations for the future. I also believe that one of the important points of the Joint Declaration is the renewed support for the territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and each other's sovereignty, as well as conflict resolution based on the principles of international law and the principles of territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and sovereignty,” Aliyev said.

“As for our bilateral relations, we have once again reviewed the broad agenda of our interaction, reaffirmed our commitment to the strategic development of our cooperation, and the documents that have been signed today supplement the already very broad legal base. During my official visit to Turkmenistan, more than 20 documents were signed, and today there are about 20 more. This is almost half of all documents between our countries. This suggests that in a year and a half we have come a long way in terms of strengthening the legal framework,” the president went on saying.

Touching upon areas, which agreements were signed, Aliyev emphasized the progress in mutual economic relations: “I am glad that a good process is underway in the trade and economic sphere and there is good momentum in commodity turnover. Today we spoke in detail about the transport and logistical sector, gave certain instructions to relevant state bodies to intensify work in this direction, to strengthen coordination of efforts to enhance the transit and transport potential of our countries.”

“Both Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have been attaching special importance to transport infrastructure and we practically went along a parallel course by modernizing this infrastructure. Today, our main ports operate in a coordinated and well-concerted way, enabling the passage of growing cargo through our territories. We also provide our transit potential to other countries. Today, I believe, we have made an important decision to strengthen this potential. Additional measures will be taken to create infrastructure opportunities and conditions for increasing freight traffic. Due to close cooperation and good relations with our neighbors, we will naturally attract more shippers from neighboring states and, in essence, create a new transport corridor that extends thousands of kilometers. Thus, we will create favorable conditions for the further development of our countries and strengthen regional cooperation,” Aliyev said.

The president also discussed energy cooperation with his Turkmen counterpart as well as humanitarian cooperation between the two countries taking into account the ethnic closeness of the two nations.

“In other words, today's agenda has been quite extensive. In general, we have a very active dialogue. Last year, the presidents met both in Baku and in Ashgabat. The year before last, as I noted, my official visit was very successful.”

Aliyev concluded his speech expressing his confidence that visit of Turkmenistan’s President will be another important step towards strengthening ties between countries.

Seventeen contracts were signed between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in different spheres including aviation, culture, migration, education, communication, environmental protection, agriculture, real estate, science, literature, trade, economy.

Namely, the agreements were signed between the above-mentioned agencies:

The State Civil Aviation Agency Azerbaijani Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies and Turkmenistan Airlines;

Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting CJSC and Turkmenistan's State Television, Radio Broadcasting and Cinematography Committee;

Azerbaijani State Migration Service and Turkmen State Migration Service;

Azerbaijan National Library and the State Library of the Turkmen Ministry of Culture;

Baku State University and Turkmen State University;

Azerbaijani Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies and “Turkmen Aragatnashyk” Agency

Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and Turkmen Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection;

Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy and Turkmen Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection

Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy and Turkmen Ministry of Justice;

Azerbaijani and Turkmen Ministries of Foreign Affairs;

Azerbaijani and Turkmen National Academies of Sciences;

Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan;

The Small and Medium Business Development Agency of Azerbaijan and Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan;

Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy and Turkmen Ministry of Finance and Economy.

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