Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, October 31/ Trend, H. Hasanov /
The U.S. appreciates Turkmenistan's deep commitment to the issue of Afghanistan's development, a published letter of U.S President Barack Obama to Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said.
The letter was sent on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of Turkmenistan's independence currently being celebrated.
'We highly appreciate Turkmenistan's leading role in its inclination towards achieving peace and prosperity in the region, especially the deep commitment of Turkmenistan towards the issue of Afghanistan's development', the text of the letter said.
The U.S. president also expressed hope 'for the further cooperation and strengthening of the countries' partnership in the future'.
Turkmenistan has a long border with Afghanistan where an unstable situation has remained for a long time. Ashgabat repeatedly expressed the country's readiness to offer its political space for holding a high level meeting and negotiations on Afghanistan under the auspices of the UN.
At the beginning of the year, the Turkmen capital hosted an international working meeting to promote the development of Afghanistan with the participation of neighbouring countries, international organisations and potential donors. Official Ashgabat earlier promoted a series of initiatives for the socio-economic recovery of the neighbouring state which were positively assessed by the UN and OSCE.
In particular, work on the construction of the Atamyrat-Imamnazar-Akina-Andhoi (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan) railway is being carried out. In addition, Ashgabat proposed a project allowing a significant increase in the volume of exports of Turkmen electricity to Afghanistan.
The largest project is the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline and formation of an international consortium is currently underway.
Official Ashgabat believes that construction of the gas pipeline in addition to purely economic issues will enable the region to solve a number of important social and humanitarian issues including those related to the creation of new jobs and building an infrastructure along the main gas route.