President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received acting minister of finance of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi. The guest thanked the Turkmen leader for taking the time to meet and conveyed to him the warm greetings and best wishes from President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani. Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi noted that Afghanistan highly commended the foreign policy strategy pursued by neutral Turkmenistan that served as an important factor of maintaining stability and sustainable development in the region. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov thanked the guest for his kind words and returned the greetings to his Afghan colleague. The head of state confirmed Turkmenistan’s commitment to the traditionally constructive dialog with the neighboring country and the readiness to provide all possible assistance in its economic and cultural revival. In the course of the meeting, the Turkmen leader and his guest exchanged views on the potential for scaling up the bilateral partnership and outlined trade and economics, transport and communication, and power engineering as its priority areas. The sides noted that there was every opportunity to further expand the interstate cooperation. In this regard, the role of the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Afghan Commission whose sessions define the concrete steps for the practical implementation of agreements was specifically highlighted. Special emphasis was placed on the tremendous significance of Turkmenistan’s international peacekeeping initiatives for Afghanistan and the countries of the region. Speaking of the importance of large-scale projects being practically implemented on the proposal by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, and primarily, the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India transnational pipeline, the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Tajikistan railway and the power line towards Afghanistan, Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi noted that they all were the symbol of genuinely good neighborly partnership. Cooperation in the humanitarian sphere was another subject for discussion. In this regard, the acting minister of finance of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan expressed gratitude to the head of state and to the people of Turkmenistan for brotherly solidarity and active support for Afghanistan’s development. This is clearly evidenced in the construction of social facilities including medical and educational institutions in the friendly country, as well as in training professionals in our country’s universities and regular humanitarian aid etc. In concluding the meeting, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and his guest expressed their confidence that the Turkmen-Afghan relations would continue to develop and expand successfully drawing on the best traditions of friendship, good-neighborliness and mutual goodwill of the sides.