On February 3, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov received Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, who had arrived in our country on a working visit. Sincerely appreciative of the audience, the guest conveyed warm greetings and best wishes to the President of Turkmenistan from President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, who had confirmed Russia’s commitment to the traditionally friendly relations with Turkmenistan. Having addressed his greetings and best wishes to the President and the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation in return, the leader of nation has noted with satisfaction the high level of the Turkmen-Russian relations, which are filled with new content from year to year. In the course of an interest-based exchange of opinions on the current state and prospects for cooperation, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and his guest gave special consideration to realization of bilateral agreements, including the ones reached during the meeting of the leaders of Turkmenistan and Russia at the 4th Caspian Summit, held in Astrakhan in last year’s September. In the context of discussing the key directions of the Turkmen-Russian cooperation, the President of Turkmenistan and his guest have stressed the progressive dynamics of bilateral trade and economic relations. As is known, Russia is one of our country’s main foreign trade partners, and the Russian Federation’s business circles evince a great interest in the Turkmen market with its favorable investment climate. A number of important projects have been implemented in various fields jointly with well-known Russian companies, actively working in Turkmenistan; there are good preconditions for the expansion and diversification of cooperation as well. In this aspect, a significant role is assigned to the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Russian Commission as an efficient instrument for implementing the agreements reached and forming optimal approaches to the issues of partnership. As a spectacular example of successful interstate interaction, the parties have also mentioned the ever-growing relations between Turkmenistan and constituent entities of the Russian Federation - the Republic of Tatarstan, Astrakhan Region, Sverdlovsk Region, the city of St. Petersburg, and other regions of the Russian Federation. Touching upon the issue of humanitarian-cultural cooperation as an integral component of the Turkmen-Russian relations, the President of Turkmenistan and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia have stressed the importance of further advancing and deepening the fruitful contacts in the field of education and science. The A.S. Pushkin Joint Turkmen-Russian Secondary School in Ashgabat serves as one of the clear symbols of the relations. The leader of nation and his guest spoke in favor of advancing the mutually beneficial dialogue in the field of culture and art. In the frames of the conversation, speaking of the upcoming celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the War of 1941-1945, the head of Turkmenistan and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia have noted the importance of this glorious date – an embodiment of the noble deed of the brotherly nations, who were fighting shoulder to shoulder against fascism for the coming generations’ peaceful and prosperous future. During the meeting, the President of Turkmenistan and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation exchanged views on a number of topical issues of international policy, first of all, safeguarding of peace, security and sustainable development in the regional and global dimension. In this regard, the parties have also confirmed the two states’ willingness to further strengthen the traditional cooperation in the bilateral and multilateral format, within the UN, the CIS and other authoritative international organizations and agencies. *** That same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan hosted a meeting with the delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. The agenda of meeting was focused on the key issues of the intergovernmental Turkmen-Russian dialogue development, the prospects for the bilateral cooperation advancement in its main directions. The vital aspects of regional and international issues became a topic for an interest-based exchange of views. The parties also expressed mutual willingness to strengthen the constructive contacts, and to continue the well-established practice of regular consultations between the Foreign Ministries. The meeting resulted in signing a 2015 Program of Cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.