The National Leader of the Turkmen people attended the SCO summit in Astana

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit convened in Astana, Kazakhstan, on July 4, 2024. It comprised two key events: a meeting of the heads of the SCO member states and a meeting in the SCO plus format.The meeting of the SCO’s supreme body, the Council of Heads of Member States, which was chaired by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, was attended by President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Minister of Foreign Affairs of India Subramanyam Jaishankar, Acting President of Iran Mohammad Mohber, President of China Xi Jinping, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming and Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Ruslan Mirzaev also participated in the meeting.At the beginning of the summit, the leaders signed a decision on granting the Republic of Belarus the status of a SCO member state.The agenda of the meeting focused on discussing the prospects for the development of multilateral cooperation across the entire spectrum of the Organization’s activities, especially in the fields of political affairs and security, trade and investment, transport and energy, culture and humanitarian exchanges.Following the summit, 25 documents were approved and the Astana Declaration of the Council of Heads of SCO member states was signed. The decisions taken relate to issues of cooperation in the fields of politics, security, economy, trade and humanitarian exchanges. Decisions were also approved on the establishment of the SCO Initiative “On World Unity for Just Peace, Harmony and Development”, on the declaration of Qingdao (PRC) as the cultural and tourist capital of the SCO for the period 2024-2025, etc.The three statements of the Council of Heads of State were issued, as a Statement of the Council of Heads of Member States on the principles of good neighborliness, trust and partnerships.The text of the Astana Declaration can be found here: https://rus.sectsco.org/20240704/1420683.htmlOne of the main outcomes of the summit was the completion of the procedure for the Republic of Belarus to join the Organization as a member state, as a result of which the SCO membership increased to ten states.After the Astana Summit, the People’s Republic of China took over the chairmanship of the Organization from Kazakhstan.On the sidelines of the Astana summit, a meeting in the SCO plus format was held under the theme “Strengthening multilateral dialogue – striving for sustainable peace and development” with the participation of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the observer State of Mongolia, the guests of the chair nation – Azerbaijan, the State of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Turkmenistan, the heads of the executive bodies of the United Nations, the CIS, ECO, the Council of Europe, the CSTO and the EAEU, as well as the Director General of the Islamic Organization for Food Security.Participants of the meeting in the SCO Plus format
• President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
• President of Russia Vladimir Putin
• President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko
• External Affairs Minister of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
• Acting President of Iran Mohammad Mohber
• President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov
• President of China Xi Jinping
• Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif
• President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon
• President of Uzbekistan Shavkat MirziyoyevHead of the SCO Observer State: President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin KhurelsukhHeads of delegations of the invited states:• President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
• Emir of the State of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani
• Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, Ruler of the Emirate of Ras Al     Khaimah Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasemi
• Chairman of Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov
• President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip ErdoganHeads of permanent SCO bodies:
Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Zhang Ming
Ruslan Mirzaev, Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist StructureHeads of invited international organizations:
• Aryn Berik Sakbayuly – Director General of the Islamic Organization for Food Security
• Antonio Guterres – Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Sergey Lebedev – Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States
• Bakytzhan Sagintayev – Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission
• Kairat Sarybai – Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia
• Imangali Tasmagambetov – Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
• Khusrav Noziri – Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation OrganizationIn his address, Arkadag Berdimuhamedov highlighted Turkmenistan’s continued participation as an honored guest at SCO summits. He described this tradition as a sign of respect, trust, and openness, reflecting a desire for closer partnerships.Beyond historical ties and geographical proximity, Turkmenistan shares common values and a worldview with SCO member states. Today, economic, trade, investment, and technological cooperation further strengthen these relationships, he added.Berdimuhamedov emphasized Turkmenistan’s full commitment to the SCO’s core principles – peace, mutual respect, equality, and cooperation – expressing their readiness to contribute to their practical implementation.The key statements by the National Leader of the Turkmen people:Dear Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich! Dear Heads of State and Delegations,First of all, let me express my gratitude to the distinguished President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich Tokayev for the invitation, hospitality and excellent organization of the meeting.This is not the first time Turkmenistan has attended the meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at the highest level as an honorary guest.It has become a good tradition, and we perceive this status as a sign of respect for Turkmenistan, an indicator of a high level of trust and openness to our country, and the desire to develop close partnerships with it.This approach fully meets Turkmenistan’s intentions. Our country sees the SCO as a significant and promising partner, cooperation with which meets national interests, is able to significantly and positively influence the course and direction of regional processes, and contribute to the stabilization of the international situation.Our country has deep historical ties, geographical proximity, shared values and worldview with the peoples and States that are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Today, this is complemented by mutual interest in the economy, trade, investment, and technology.And of course, Turkmenistan fully shares the fundamental principles underlying the activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization – peace, mutual respect, equality, cooperation. Together with the SCO, Turkmenistan is ready to work on their practical implementation.In this regard, Turkmenistan has been persistently and for a number of years promoting the initiative of dialogue in the international arena as a guarantee of peace. This idea is fully consistent with the theme of our Summit. We see this as a good prerequisite for starting substantive joint work in the UN and other reputable multilateral structures.As you know, at the initiative of Turkmenistan, 2025 was declared by the United Nations as the “International Year of Peace and Trust”. This is fixed in the relevant Resolution of the General Assembly, which serves political and legal grounds for the full-scale involvement of our states in the process of consultations and negotiations at the UN in order to develop common approaches and a consolidated position on the peace and peacekeeping agenda.In the same context, Turkmenistan would like to discuss with the SCO the possibilities of supporting our initiative on the formation of a Global Security Strategy put forward by the President of Turkmenistan last September at the plenary session of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.In case of a positive response, it would be possible to instruct the foreign policy ministries of our countries to develop an appropriate plan for political consultations. We count on your support for this proposal.Summarizing the foreign policy part of my speech, I would like to emphasize that the fundamental goals of neutral Turkmenistan lie in the plane of peaceful, sustainable and predictable development.We consider the formula of respectful dialogue as the basis of global peace and security as a key condition for the transition to such a vector of relations, their consistent normalization and de-escalation of the situation.Dear participants!In its assessments of cooperation with the SCO, Turkmenistan proceeds from the convergence of our economic interests. We believe that the prospects for partnership and its long-term nature are already obvious today.The Eurasian space has inexhaustible resource and demographic potential, demonstrates rapid economic growth, outstanding scientific and technological achievements.Together, these factors open up unique opportunities for constructive cooperation between Turkmenistan and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in strategic areas – transport, communications, energy, and a number of other areas.I am convinced that we have all the prerequisites to build sustainable, main partnership routes along the East–West and North–South lines.Geographically, Turkmenistan is the natural optimal link in this large project. Within its framework, we are ready to work with the SCO states in various formats and configurations. If we talk about the transport and transit segment, then here we highlight the route through Central Asia from China to Europe and the Middle East.Specifically, we are talking about the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan–Turkmenistan–Iran–Türkiye corridor with access to Europe. From the point of view of logistics, this is a very convenient way.For its effective functioning, it will be necessary to resolve, among other things, issues related to the cross-border movement of goods.In our opinion, it should be about creating a regime of the most favored transport links, providing tariff, customs and other preferences at border crossings. We are ready to discuss this issue with interested partners in detail.Another significant combined route with the participation of Turkmenistan and the SCO countries is the North–South corridor along the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea through the port city of Turkmenbashi and onward south to the Iranian sea terminals in the Gulf.We see prospects for the SCO countries’ participation in the context of combining the resource, economic and transport potentials of Central Asia, India and Pakistan.We also see great prospects for joint work in the energy sector. Turkmenistan has the opportunity to significantly increase the volume of hydrocarbon raw materials and electricity supplied to the SCO countries.In this context, I want to emphasize that we are clearly fulfilling our contractual obligations in terms of volumes and timing of natural gas supplies.We invite interested SCO states to explore their participation in energy and communication projects in Afghanistan initiated by Turkmenistan. We are talking about the implementation of projects for the construction of the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India gas pipeline, power transmission lines and fiber-optic communication along the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan route.In addition to purely economic benefits, such work will ensure the early and effective integration of Afghanistan into regional and continental processes, will contribute to the economic and social reconstruction of the country, and therefore to the stabilization of the political situation, the achievement of peace and harmony.Among other important areas of cooperation with the SCO, we highlight trade, industrial cooperation, agriculture, the green agenda, and partnership in the field of information technology. Cross-border and regional business partnership models involving small and medium-sized businesses look promising.We express our desire to expand and intensify humanitarian, scientific and educational ties. We advocate the development of joint youth programs in such areas as the study of historical and cultural heritage; an innovative future; the contribution of youth to environmental protection; youth entrepreneurship and business projects.We give an important place to sports cooperation. As you know, not so long ago Ashgabat awarded the status of the City of new sports opportunities of the Commonwealth of Independent States. This status implies openness to the widest international sports cooperation, including with the participation of athletes from the SCO states.Dear friends!In conclusion, I would like to confirm Turkmenistan’s great respect for the activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, its firm commitment to deepening good-neighborly and friendly relations with it and wish all participants of the meeting successful work. ///nCa, 5 July 2024 Related posts: