Russian, Turkmen Presidents Sign Declaration on Strengthening Strategic Partnership

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkmen counterpart Serdar Berdimuhamedov signed a declaration on strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries during their first meeting in Moscow on Friday.

Russia and Turkmenistan agreed to establish relations of stronger strategic partnership, which implies intensified cooperation in various spheres both in bilateral relations and internationally. The signatories also pledged to further cooperation in countering terrorist and extremist ideologies, money laundering, drug and arms trafficking.

Both parties confirmed their commitment to jointly ensuring international cybersecurity at regional and global scales, particularly through the UN mechanisms. Biological security is also mentioned in the declaration, with Russia and Turkmenistan affirming their readiness to develop coordination in this sphere based on a memorandum signed in 2021 and a roadmap agreement signed in February this year.

At the press conference following the meeting, Putin stressed that Russia's major energy and industry companies are interested in launching projects in Turkmenistan, adding that some energy giants such as Gazprom and Lukoil are already running their projects in the partnering country.

"Other large energy and industrial companies such as Inter RAO and Power Machines are also interested in implementing projects in Turkmenistan. We are talking about modernization and construction of new power plants, including those running on renewable energy sources, construction of high-voltage power lines, transit and export of electricity," Putin said.

The Kremlin said that Russia and Turkmenistan signed 15 bilateral documents in total on Friday, including the strategic partnership declaration and memoranda on cooperation in trade, transit, IT, banking and so on.

This is Berdimuhamedov's first visit to a foreign country since he took office in March. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Moscow and Ashgabat.