President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has met with Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin, who arrived in our country as the head of a representative delegation to attend the First Caspian Economic Forum in the Avaza National Tourist Zone. Welcoming the guest, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov highlighted that Kazakhstan has been and remains our country’s important partner. We hold dear and highly value the bilateral relations we have developed over the years, while attaching great importance to promoting them in bilateral and multilateral formats, the head of Turkmenistan said, having expressed his firm belief that the constructive interstate dialogue will continue to advance steadily. After thanking the head of state for the warm reception and recognizing the significance Kazakhstan attaches to strengthening the relations with Turkmenistan, the guest conveyed greetings from President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who had also wished the Forum every success. Askar Mamin emphasized that Kazakhstan fully supports the initiatives put forward by the President of Turkmenistan to promote peace, stability and well-being regionally and globally. The Turkmen leader thanked the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan for the warm words, and passed on his best wishes to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, and the people of Kazakhstan. During the meeting, the parties exchanged their views on issues across a broad spectrum of the Turkmen-Kazak cooperation, discussed the implementation progress of several interstate economic projects and prospects for closer partnership in the strategically important trade-economic, transport and logistics, and energy sectors. Our country is committed to its open-door and good-neighbour policy, and is taking a series of practical steps to build the transport-transit corridor for the countries in the region and in the world, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said. On the subject of cross-border cooperation, the discussion focused on issues of developing the neighbor states’ transit potential and implementing energy projects initiated by Turkmenistan. The parties also recognized the importance of deepening the cooperation in the field of global energy security and of joining efforts to tackle global environmental challenges. In the light of the present-day realities, ecology is seen as one of the priority area of cooperation, where Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are closely collaborating, particularly, within the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, currently chaired by our country. Much attention is also given to joint efforts to tackle the Caspian Sea-related issues. Our countries have considerable potential for enhancing the trade-economic cooperation, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said, having stressed, in this context, the role of the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Kazak Commission for Economic, Scientific-Technical and Cultural Cooperation. The sides also indicated their mutual desire to implement new joint projects, including in the gas chemical industry as well as their readiness to advance the constructive partnership bilaterally and within international organizations. Having praised the high degree of organization of the events, held in the Avaza National Tourist Zone as part of the First Caspian Economic Forum, Askar Mamin expressed his firm belief that the constructive foreign policy strategy of Turkmenistan would contribute to closer cooperation in the Caspian Sea. At the end of the meeting, the President of Turkmenistan and Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan affirmed the two countries’ commitment to fostering the interstate relations.