Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Ashgabat, 20 January 2009 (nCa) --- 2008 was an exceptionally active year for foreign relations of Turkmenistan.
President Berdymuhamedov made 15 trips abroad on state, official and working visits. He visited Russia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Romania, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Germany and Austria.
Fourteen visits of heads of state or government to Turkmenistan took place in 2008 - United Arab Emirates, Russia, Croatia, Jordan, China, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, South Korea, Lithuania, and Malaysia.
Vice president of India also visited Turkmenistan.
Twenty-eight delegations of Turkmenistan led by deputy prime ministers and ministers and ten delegations of ministerial level visited foreign countries in 2008.
In all, 422 delegations of foreign countries and international organizations visited Turkmenistan during this period.
Turkmenistan established diplomatic relations with Montenegro and the principality of Andorra, bringing the total number of countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Turkmenistan to 127.
Turkmenistan is full member of 40 international organizations.
Further expansion of relations with foeign countries and international organizations is one of the priority areas for Turkmenistan.
In 2008, Turkmenistan opened embassies in Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia.
Non-resident ambassadors of Turkmenistan were accredited to Lithuania, Egypt, Switzerland, Israel, ItalyCuba. and
During this period ambassadors of 17 countries were accredited in Turkmenistan.
Relations with international organizations such as the UN, OSCE, EU, OIC and ECO improved considerably in 2008.
A major diplomatic success of Turkmenistan was adoption of resolution by the UN General Assembly on 19 December 2008 for "reliable and stable transit of energy and its role in sustainable development and international cooperation.' Proposed by Turkmenistan, the resolution was a grand exercise in positive diplomacy, sponsored by 75 countries, and endorsed unanimously by all the 192 members of the United Nations.
In 2009, Turkmenistan will take steps to strengthen cooperation with specialized agencies of the United Nations and increase diplomatic presence in Ashgabat.
Turkmenistan plans to continue constructive partnership with OSCE. In 2008, Turkmenistan and OSCE implemented jointly 17 projects; 28 projects are planned for 2009.
Relations with EU are also on the rise. As part of the national programme, projects worth Euro 17.8 million were carried out in Turkmenistan. An important step was the opening of "Europa House' in Ashgabat.
In future the diplomatic mission of EU will also be opened in Ashgabat.
Work is underway to expand relations with OIC. Turkmenistan will host the regular meeting of the governing body of the Islamic Development Bank 2-3 June 2009 in Ashgabat. Simultaneously, appointment of permanent representative to OIC is also being considered.
Turkmenistan has foreign economic relations with 96 countries. The foreign trade turnover of Turkmenistan in 2008 was US $ 17.6 billion.
Turkmenistan has lately singled out the mechanism of bilateral intergovernmental commission as the best path to speedy development of relations. In 2008, twelve meetings of bilateral commissions with Azerbaijan, Austria, Belarus, Iran, India, South Korea, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey and EU were held.
As a result of the visits at the highest level, 85 bilateral treaties and agreements were signed in 2008.
During this period Turkmenistan acceded to six international conventions.
The bilateral treaties and agreements and international conventions cover political, trade-economic, humanitarian, cultural and other key areas.
In pursuance of its human rights obligations, Turkmen delegation participated in the meetings of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHCHR) in Geneva in September and December 2008.
Development of relations with the neighbouring countries continued at macro and micro level.
The foreign relations of Turkmenistan are governed by the Constitution and the state document "The guidelines for implementation of foreign policy of Turkmenistan for the period 2008-12' signed by President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov on 20 March 2008.
[This report is based on material provided by the Office of International Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.]
