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U.S. Department of State: U.S. appreciates Turkmenistan's peacemaking policy

Politics Materials 1 August 2011 13:32 (UTC +04:00)
A U.S. delegation headed by the Secretary of State Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman stressed that the U.S. appreciates Turkmenistan's peacemaking policy, the Turkmen government reported.
U.S. Department of State: U.S. appreciates Turkmenistan's peacemaking policy

Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Aug.1 / Trend, H. Hasanov /

A U.S. delegation headed by the Secretary of State Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman stressed that the U.S. appreciates Turkmenistan's peacemaking policy, the Turkmen government reported.

The current visit is part of a regional tour to conduct consultative meetings with senior officials in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
According to the report, the sides discussed prospects of cooperation in ensuring regional security and joint counter threats and challenges at a meeting in the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.

The State Department representatives stressed "increasing role of Turkmenistan, whose neutral status is a positive factor to maintain a favorable socio-political climate in the Central Asian region".

In addition, the guests stressed that the U.S. appreciates and supports Ashgabat's ongoing peacekeeping policy and its important international initiatives aimed at solving today's urgent problems.
"In this regard, Turkmenistan's position is a model to resolve the situation in neighboring Afghanistan, in particular, the Turkmen side's willingness to provide its own political space for the UN-sponsored inter-Afghan peace talks," the report says.

President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov has repeatedly emphasized that Turkmenistan stands for resolving the situation in Afghanistan only by peaceful, political and diplomatic means.

Turkmenistan, which has positive neutrality status, has a long border with Afghanistan. Ashgabat recently proposed to hold inter-Afghan peace talks here under the aegis of the UN.

Turkmenistan provides humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and builds social infrastructure in border areas through its own funds and supplies power and fuel on advantageous terms.

Turkmenistan undertook the implementation of a large-scale project, which will increase the export of electricity to Afghanistan by five times. The present export capacity in this area is about 325 million kilowatt-hours per year.

Turkmenenergo has selected Turkish company Lotus Proje Akaryakit Enerji Madencilik Telekomunikasyon Insaat Sanayi Taahhut ve Ticaret AS, as the contactor to the project worth $390 million.

Ashgabat also states that "the Turkmen leader's initiative to build the largest transnational gas pipeline Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India caused a huge international resonance".
As is known, a large-scale project of laying a gas pipeline to India and Pakistan to supply Turkmen gas is associated with the territory of Afghanistan, where an unstable situation is observed for many years.

Observers believe that the implementation of this project can contribute to the restoration of Afghanistan, as it will create jobs and provide the country with a guaranteed income for transit.

Ashgabat and Kabul are also discussing the possibility of a project aimed at constructing a new railway line among the countries, which will be an important link in international transportation between the Asian region's countries.

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