CENTRAL COMMISSION FOR HOLDING ELECTIONS AND REFERENDUMS IN TURKMENISTAN

As you know, on January 5-6, 2023, our esteemed President Serdar Berdimuhamedov paid a state visit to the friendly country of the People's Republic of China. 

By the way, it is a matter of pride that the first visit of our esteemed President as the state Leader in the new year coincides with the 31st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and the People's Republic of China on January 6. 

Since the establishment of these diplomatic relations on January 6, 1992, Ashgabat and Beijing have been able to develop a more effective model of intergovernmental relations. This allows us to coordinate the similarities of the tasks ahead, taking into account the national interests of the parties and the uniqueness of the turkmen and chinese peoples. If we look at the history, our peoples have been linked by friendship and mutual understanding since the time of the Great Silk  road. 

On January 6, our esteemed President Serdar Berdimuhamedov met with the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping. As our esteemed President noted at the meeting, the Great Silk road connecting our countries is not only a bridge for mutually beneficial trade, but also opens the way for cultural relations. This path played a huge role in the fate of turkmen and chinese peoples, and we, the inheritors and successors of this unique experience, in today's conditions, developing cooperation and deepening our relations became a solid foundation for ensuring the continuity of those times. 

As it noted, the Central Asian region has a special place in turkmen-chinese relations. In this regard, the new "Central Asia-China" type of political cooperation is given great importance. Also, issues related to the activation of parliamentary relations, deepening of cooperation established in trade-economic, fuel-energy, transport-communication, cultural-humanitarian spheres formed the basis of turkmen-chinese dialogues. 

The signing of 16 bilateral documents based on the results of the negotiations confirms that the visit was very fruitful. The intergovernmental Memorandum on mutual understanding in connection with the "Revival of the Great Silk road" and "One Belt, One Road"  international initiatives will be of great importance in coordinating joint efforts. 

Our esteemed President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and President Xi Jinping signed the Joint Declaration of Turkmenistan and the People's Republic of China. 

Also, during the visit our state Leader met with the Prime Minister of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Kesyan and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the All-China People's Assembly of the People's Republic of China Li Zhangshu. 

Later in the afternoon, our esteemed President visited the National Museum of China. Here, our state Leader was told about the characteristics of the world's largest museum, which was created to preserve and promote the rich art and past history of the Chinese people, as well as the unique values ​​stored in it. Today, the museum's treasures contain more than one million pieces of artefacts representing the main historical periods of China's development from ancient times to the present day. 

The results of the talks held at the highest level will serve as a reliable foundation for the further rapid development of intergovernmental relations and the realization of great opportunities.