(unofficial translation)
Dear heads of state! Dear participants of the Summit!
Taking this pleasant opportunity, I would like first of all to express my sincere gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia for his hospitality and warm welcome, as well as for the excellent conditions for holding the Summit at a high level.
We are also grateful to His Highness the Crown Prince, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud for the very successful organization of this meeting.
Dear heads of state!
Today, a complex international political situation is developing in various regions, and a similar situation is observed in areas adjacent to the countries of Central Asia and the states that are members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. This circumstance requires us to consolidate our efforts and adequately respond to existing global challenges and threats.
In this regard, we consider it expedient to create a permanent mechanism – the Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Central Asian countries and the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf.
Along with interaction on political issues, the activation of trade and economic partnership is among the urgent tasks, and here the priority is transport, energy, investment and trade.
To build up cooperation in these areas, we consider it important to create new transport and transit corridors, a stable and reliable logistics infrastructure, the primary task of which is to unite our regions.
In order to coordinate efforts in the transport sector, we propose to establish the Transport Committee of the countries of the “Central Asia and the GCC” format.
We also attach great importance to energy: our states have rich sources of energy, fuel and energy resources and powerful production facilities for their processing.
We propose to form a Joint Working Group on Energy, the function of which will be to analyze the potential for collective action in the energy sector and provide advice.
It is also necessary to expand trade relations and consistently increase the volume of mutual trade between the states of Central Asia and the Gulf.
To achieve these goals, we propose to discuss the creation of the Central Asian Chamber of Commerce and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
There are great prospects for investment partnership. Turkmenistan is always open to cooperation in the implementation of investment projects in priority sectors of the economy.
In this regard, we propose to organize the First Investment Forum of the countries of Central Asia and the Gulf Cooperation Council in Turkmenistan in 2024.
The cultural and humanitarian sphere plays a huge role in our cooperation.
Based on this, we propose to form a new platform for interaction in the field of culture, namely, the “Cultural Dialogue” of Central Asia and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Ecology is one of the key issues on the global development agenda.
Therefore, we propose to consider the issue of establishing the Ecological Council of the Central Asian States and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Among the urgent tasks is the development of interaction in medicine and healthcare. A number of important international initiatives in this area were put forward by the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan.
For their practical implementation and intensification of contacts through medical diplomacy, we propose to hold the Medical Congress of the countries of Central Asia and the Gulf Cooperation Council in Ashgabat in 2025.
The issue of developing partnerships in the field of physical culture and sports is also of great importance.
The organization of the First International Sports Games of the states of Central Asia and the Gulf Cooperation Council can be a starting step in this direction.
We believe that such games should be open in nature, and Turkmenistan is ready to provide modern specialized infrastructure for holding this event and create optimal conditions for its participants.
In conclusion, I express my deep gratitude to the organizers of the current Summit of the Heads of State of Central Asia and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council – the Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf, Mr. Jassem Mohamed Albudawi and all his representatives.
/// nCa, 20 July 2023
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