Xi, Turkmen president celebrate 30 years of ties

President Xi Jinping and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Turkmenistan on Thursday, with both leaders vowing to intensify the nations' bilateral pragmatic and mutually beneficial cooperation.

In his message to Berdymukhamedov, Xi hailed the sound development of bilateral ties in the past three decades, saying that the countries' relations have brought tangible benefits to the two nations and their peoples and made important contributions to safeguarding regional peace and stability.

He said that China was the first country to establish diplomatic ties with Turkmenistan, it was one of the first countries to support its policy of permanent neutrality, and it was the first strategic partner of Turkmenistan established in the form of a political document.

It is also Turkmenistan's largest natural gas trading partner, he added.

Noting that China attaches great importance to its relations with the Central Asian country, Xi said the nation will, as always, firmly support Turkmenistan in pursuing a development path suited to its own national conditions, safeguarding national sovereignty and national independence and upholding its policy of permanent neutrality.

While saying he would like to stay in close contact with Berdymukhamedov, Xi stressed that he stands ready to work with the Turkmen president to take the 30th anniversary as an opportunity to continuously deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields in order to take the countries' strategic partnership to new levels to benefit them and their peoples.

In his message to Xi, Berdymukhamedov said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties, Turkmenistan and China have carried out all-around cooperation in the broadest scope, and set up a unique multilevel coordination mechanism.

China has been a major trading partner of Turkmenistan for several years in a row, which vividly represents the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, said Berdymukhamedov.

Turkmenistan considers its ties with China to be of great importance, he added, and it is ready to work closely with China on the basis of equality, mutual respect and accommodation of each other's interests, and spare no effort to take Turkmenistan-China ties to a higher level.