On May 22, the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov received the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States Sergey Lebedev, who had arrived in Ashgabat to participate in a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government, which is scheduled for May 24, TDH reports.

Expressing the conviction that the forthcoming meeting would provide a good opportunity to discuss the main directions and prospects of cooperation within the CIS, and its results would serve to further strengthen multilateral interaction, Serdar Berdimuhamedov stated that cooperation within the Commonwealth was one of the priority aspects of the foreign-policy strategy of neutral Turkmenistan.

Given its neutral status, Turkmenistan, being an associated member of the CIS, took a proactive position in matters of interaction in the Commonwealth space and actively participated in economic, cultural and humanitarian programs, and CIS events were consistently held in the country, the head of state said.

The President emphasized that the main areas of joint activity included using existing opportunities in the spheres of economy and trade, energy, transport, communications and telecommunications and strengthening relations in the scientific, educational, cultural and sports fields.

In this context, Serdar Berdimuhamedov stated that at the forthcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of Government, on the initiative of the Turkmen party, it was planned to consider the draft Decision on declaring Ashgabat the City of New Sports Opportunities of the Commonwealth, expressing confidence that the adoption of that document would serve to further strengthen the friendly ties.

In turn, the CIS Secretary General noted that Ashgabat had all the necessary infrastructure for organizing international sporting events at a high level and that the country had become a center of world-class sport competitions.

During the meeting, it was also stressed that in the context of climate change, it was advisable to intensify efforts in addressing environmental issues, including the development of “green” technologies.