Belarus and Turkmenistan are advancing their relationship to a qualitatively new level of strategic partnership. The sides intend to intensify their trade and expand economic interaction by exploring new cooperation avenues. Special attention will be paid to cooperation in industrial manufacturing, to creating new jobs based on advanced technologies, to pursuing large-scale infrastructure development projects, and to expanding effective interaction in the energy sector. These are the main results of the talks that took place on 25 January between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov of Turkmenistan as part of the Turkmen President’s two-day official visit to Belarus.

Today the Presidents held one-on-one talks and then talks with broader participation.

According to Alexander Lukashenko, every necessary prerequisite is now in place for Belarus and Turkmenistan to build up their bilateral trade and expand their cooperation in production. The countries already have a history of successful cooperation. For example, Minsk Tractor Plant has already supplied 1,500 tractors to Turkmenistan under a contract signed in June 2009. Besides from the well-known tractors under the trademark Belarus, Belarusian heavy-duty trucks and road construction vehicles have also proved deserving of their high reputation while operating in Turkmenistan. Turkmen ministries and agencies place orders with Belarusian producers for new experimental models of equipment. Some of the new models are now being tested. In the course of the talks, Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarus had developed new schemes for selling Belarusian vehicles and sophisticated machinery in Turkmenistan.

In January-November 2009, the Belarus-Turkmenistan trade amounted to $68 million, up by 48 per cent from the same period in 2008. Belarus’ exports rose by 51.5 per cent to a total of $66.5 million.

In their conversation earlier today, Alexander Lukashenko thanked Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov for visiting Belarus and expressed the hope that in the course of his two-day visit the Turkmen President would get a more detailed of picture of Belarus from both the geographical and economic angles. "Lying ahead of us is pleasant work. My visits to your countries have always been very productive," he said to his Turkmen counterpart.

President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov named his visit to Belarus historic. "I am happy to be in your country on an official visit," he said. "I am convinced that this visit will make history and will strengthen the friendship and cooperation between Belarus and Turkmenistan."