On August 25, the Turkmen capital hosted the negotiation process between President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov who the day before arrived in our country on his first-time official visit. On the first day of visit, the leader of the Bulgarian government had a get-acquainted tour of Turkmenbashi in the course of which the Prime Minister became familiar with the ongoing modernization and developmental prospects for the International Sea Port and also visited the region’s largest industrial enterprise – Turkmenbashi Refinery Complex, manufacturing a wide range of petroleum products highly-acclaimed at the world markets. In the morning, from the state guest residence in the luxurious “Oguzkent” metropolitan hotel, the distinguished guest proceeded to the “Oguzkhan” Palace Complex of the President of Turkmenistan. After the traditional ceremony of posing for official photographs against the background of the national flags of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Bulgaria, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov invited Boyko Borisov to the “Bugdai” Hall to have negotiations in the one-to-one format. Cordially welcoming the head of government of the friendly country on the ancient and hospitable Turkmen land, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov expressed confidence that the official visit of Prime Minister of Bulgaria to Turkmenistan would promote expanding friendly relations between the two countries and give a new impetus to the constructive dialogue further development. In turn, truly grateful for the cordial welcome, Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov congratulated President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and the Turkmen people on the 20th anniversary of the permanent neutrality status Turkmenistan celebrates this year. Then, the negotiation process was continued in the enlarged composition with participation of members of the two countries’ official delegations. President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has welcomed high level of the by-now friendly and partner relations between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Bulgaria that are developing on the principles of equality, mutual respect and benefit. The head of state has emphasized that over recent years, the Turkmen-Bulgarian dialogue has assumed a systemic and consistent character; official summits were held in Ashgabat and Sofia; working contacts between the governments and the agencies of the two countries became sufficiently regular; the Turkmen-Bulgarian Intergovernmental Commission for economic cooperation started its work; the inter-parliamentary cooperation is successfully developing. All of this testifies to the mutual interest and aspiration for deepening the bilateral cooperation. Having stressed that first and foremost he would like to discuss in detail the progress and condition of bilateral contacts in the trade-economic sector, to chart the perspective trends of future cooperation, the nation’s leader has expressed the belief that the unleashed potential of Turkmen-Bulgarian economic partnership is rather vast, and its today’s level does not correspond to the countries possibilities. We regard Bulgaria as a perspective partner in such spheres as construction, agriculture and processing industry, production of various types of equipment, including transport and electrical tools, technology, pharmaceutics, medical industry, and other areas, continued the Turkmen leader. In turn, Turkmenistan is ready to increase supplies of its domestic goods – high-grade textiles, production of the oil-gas processing and chemical industries to Bulgaria. President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov said that the Joint Commission for economic cooperation should carefully analyze the course and state of our relations, identify the deficiencies, study and give concrete proposals on increasing the trade volumes and its diversification. The head of state has highlighted the expedience of advancing the practice of bilateral business forums initiated by Sofia in last year’s July. Given the today’s topicality of the strategic partnership trends – energy and transport, the head of Turkmen state has stressed the Bulgaria’s responsible and consistent position in such the global agenda’s important issue, as energy security. We appreciated the fact that Bulgarian friends supported the initiative about the energy transit safety, which Turkmenistan advanced at the United Nations, continued President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov. Currently, Turkmenistan together with partners considers substantially and with interest the possibilities of its energy carriers supplies in the western direction, and in association with the European Commission is working over the legal and technical aspects. We expect, the Turkmen leader continued, that Bulgaria, as a respected and authoritative member of the European Union, will continue to render support to this process. On the whole, recognizing advisability of using the reciprocally-productive possibilities in the framework of the energy dialogue between Turkmenistan and Europe, the leader of nation has voiced willingness to set in motion the bilateral contacts and mutual understanding for activating the European vector of Turkmenistan’s energy policy, for the long-range goals of the two countries coincide. Turkmenistan and Bulgaria have also the advantageous opportunities for activating the Eurasian transport-transit vector in the lines of East-West with the outlet to the Southern and Eastern Europe, Caspian Sea, Black Sea and Mediterranean basins, to the markets of the Near East. Noting that currently large-scale construction of new seaport infrastructure is ongoing in the city of Turkmenbashi on the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea, the head of state expressed confidence in exploiting the two countries’ capabilities and the benefits of their geographic location for cooperation in the field of maritime trade traffic. In this regard, Turkmenistan considers Bulgaria as one of the perspective partners, in the context of cooperation with the European Union inclusive. Another promising area is tourism. Emphasizing that Turkmenistan is interested in applying Bulgarian rich experience in establishing of modern recreation and entertainment infrastructure in “Avaza”, the head of state invited the Bulgarian side to participate in the International Exhibition and Conference “Tourism and Travelling” to be held in the city of Turkmenbashi on this year’s September 29-30. As for the political component of our cooperation, noted the nation’s leader, it is necessary to continue and increase it in both the bilateral format and within the framework of the largest and authoritative international structures, primarily the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Not the least significant is bilateral cooperation in the cultural-humanitarian and sports spheres. Young Turkmen people take part in the international academic competitions in mathematics, which are regularly held in Bulgaria. Over recent years, Turkmen sportsmen also actively participate in various international competitions held in Sofia and other Bulgarian cities. In this regard, the leader of nation noted the interest of our country in the Bulgarian experience to organize major international sporting events, especially in the light of the 5thAsian Indoor Games and Martial Arts be held in Ashgabat in 2017. In this context, the two countries’ departments concerned have been suggested to think over the form of experience exchange in that sphere.. Our country is also interested in closer cooperation in the sphere of personnel training and scientific investigations, in getting education by Turkmen students and specialists in the educational and scientific centers of Sofia and other Bulgarian cities, said the President of Turkmenistan. As for cooperation in education and science, our two countries have great untapped opportunities, said the head of Turkmen state. Once again expressing confidence that the present meeting would be a landmark phase in further strengthening of friendship and expanding mutually beneficial partnership between the two countries, highlighting the readiness of Turkmenistan to expand the bilateral cooperation, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov gave the floor to the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov. Truly grateful to the Turkmen leader for a hearty welcome and opportunity to get acquainted with the achievements of our country, the distinguished guest has emphasized availability of vast potential for bilateral cooperation in abroad range of directions. In this context, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria spoke in favor of the Turkmen President’s opinion about the necessity of intensifying the Turkmen-Bulgarian relations in various branches. As Mr. Boyko Borisov noted, representatives of the Turkmen side could have visited Bulgaria to meet with their Bulgarian colleagues and discuss key issues of partnership, directly at the site to be acquainted with the prospects for cooperation in all fields of interest, which would promote the development of mutually beneficial cooperation in its concrete directions. Pending the subject of the Turkmen-Bulgarian relations Mr. Boyko Borisov supposed that the traditionally friendly and trust-based dialogue between the two countries could become a good basis for the development of effective relationships on the interregional level and for participation advancement in major geostrategic projects. In this aspect, European partners evinced their interest in the cooperation in the fuel and energy sector. Welcoming availability of favorable prerequisites for productive interaction in diverse fields, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria advocated expansion of bilateral contacts in order to identify the partnership-favored plans and ways of their implementation. Bulgaria is ready to share its experience and potential with Turkmenistan, including in such areas as construction of a subway, transport infrastructure and other objects, medicine and pharmaceutical industry, food industry. The field of sports is also included in the list of partnership-favored trends. Having reaffirmed immutable interest of the Republic of Bulgaria in the future all-out advancement of mutuality-based cooperation with Turkmenistan on a long-term basis, the high guest expressed President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov heartfelt appreciation for his active attention to the problems of the Turkmen-Bulgarian relations. Then followed the ceremony of signing bilateral documents. The following documents were signed: the Agreement for cooperation in the sphere of construction and architecture between the Ministry of Construction and Architecture of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works of the Republic of Bulgaria; the Agreement for cooperation between the Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Union of Turkmenistan and the State Agency for Promoting Small and Medium Businesses of the Republic of Bulgaria. To the applause of the ceremony attendees, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov affixed their signatures to the Joint Statement. On completion of the documents signing ceremony, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov have briefed the mass media on the negotiations results. In the afternoon, the motorcade of the head of the Bulgarian government headed to Kipchak, where Mr. Boyko Borisov paid tribute to the memory of the first President of Turkmenistan, laying flowers in the Mausoleum and visiting the Turkmenbashi Spirituality Mosque. Later, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria laid a wreath at the Monument of Independence of Turkmenistan. Here, Mr. Boyko Borisov, by good tradition, planted a young tree in the Independence Park, in the Alley of Honorary Guests. Next stop-off point was the Olympic Village under construction in the Turkmen capital, where the head of the government of Bulgaria visited a number of the already built objects, expressing his admiration for the scales and paces of the preparations for the Asian Games implemented by Turkmenistan. Then, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria visited the flagship of the domestic processing industry – Ashgabat Textile Complex, where he got acquainted with the production process of cotton fabrics and a wide range of other products. The head of government of the friendly country Boyko Borisov highly assessed the technical and technological level of the enterprise, its export opportunities, noting thereby availability of good prospects for establishing productive interest-based partner relations. In the evening, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov gave an official dinner in honor of the distinguished guest. That same day, Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov left for home country.