Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Feb.25/ Trend, H. Hasanov /
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov received special envoy of the UN Secretary General for Afghanistan, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan Ján Kubiš, the Turkmen government said on Saturday.
Interaction between Turkmenistan and the UN on such important area as the strengthening of security and mutual assistance to recovery and sustainable development in Afghanistan was a special topic of discussions at the meeting, the report says.
"Turkmenistan fully shares the desire of the international community to address the challenges of the global agenda, and intends to realize a strategic partnership for global peace, progress and constructive development with all states and competent international organizations in accordance with its neutral status," Mr Berdimuhammadov said.
The Turkmen leader reaffirmed Ashgabat's willingness to provide its political space for inter-Afghan peace talks under the UN auspices.
The UN special envoy, by evaluating initiatives put forward by Turkmenistan to stabilize the situation in neighboring Afghanistan and the region as a whole, stressed that "the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, the implementation of which will directly contribute to the development of the Afghan economy and addressing important social issues, as well as electricity supplies, railway construction, and many other steps undertaken by Turkmenistan will directly contribute to laying the foundation of socio-economic development of Afghanistan".
As it was noted, in addition to all this, Turkmenistan provides substantial support to its southern neighbor and within the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA), to which Turkmenistan was re-elected for two years running.