On July 12, 2021 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was on an official visit to Turkmenistan, held talks with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in Ashgabat.

Noting that China regards Turkmenistan as a truly reliable strategic partner, Wang Yi said, China-Turkmenistan relations have always maintained a sound development momentum under the strategic leadership of the two heads of state. China will firmly support Turkmenistan in taking a development path suited to its own national conditions and in pursuing a policy of permanent neutrality, and also firmly support all actions taken by Turkmenistan to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and development interests. Taking the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries as an opportunity, China stands ready to work with Turkmenistan to further deepen political mutual trust, expand all-round cooperation, strengthen coordination and cooperation on major international and regional issues, and further turn the high-level cooperation between the two countries into tangible results for the benefit of the two peoples on an extensive basis.

Wang Yi said, China will continue to provide Turkmenistan with vaccines and support it in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. China is willing to step up traditional and non-traditional security cooperation with Turkmenistan and help the country safeguard its national security. The two sides should figure out how to properly solve some issues arising from development through expanding the volume and scale of natural gas cooperation, and also seek wider cooperation in oil and gas processing, new energy, green energy, nuclear power and other fields to forge a long-term strategic partnership in the energy sector. The two sides should also deeply explore cooperation opportunities in non-resource fields and build a bilateral all-round cooperation pattern featuring sweeping progress across many different fields. China is willing to work with Turkmenistan to align the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the Silk Road Initiative (SRI) at a faster speed, tap into new growth drivers for cooperation such as digital economy and cross-border e-commerce, carry out cooperation in production capacity and investment, build a network for connectivity, facilitate cooperation in agriculture and science and technology, and expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two sides.

Wang Yi said, 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Under the leadership of the CPC, we have found a development path that suits China and has support from the Chinese people. China's development adds strength to the forces of peace, and also empowers developing countries. To hold down China's development and revitalization, some Western forces have fabricated and hyped up all kinds of rumors and misinformation, wantonly interfered in China's internal affairs by using human rights issues as a pretext, and also tried to politicize the origin tracing of COVID-19 to shirk their own responsibility for the ineffective fight against the virus. China is willing to work with Turkmenistan to defend the basic norms governing international relations such as non-interference in other's internal affairs, safeguard international equity and justice, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.

Meredov offered warm congratulations on the centenary of the CPC, and hailed the brilliant achievements made by the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC. He believes that under the leadership of the CPC, China will definitely realize the established development goals. Meredov said, Turkmenistan and China have established a high level of political mutual trust, given each other understanding and support on issues concerning each other's core interests, and continuously deepened mutually beneficial cooperation and people-to-people and cultural exchanges. The phone conversation between the two heads of state days ago has charted a course for the subsequent development of Turkmenistan-China relations. Next year, the two countries will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. With this as an opportunity, Turkmenistan is willing to strengthen the alignment of the BRI with the SRI, and further expand cooperation in the anti-pandemic, security, oil and gas, and non-resource fields. Turkmenistan thanked China for providing it with vaccines, and hopes that both sides will jointly crack down on the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, give a push to cooperation in biosecurity and information security, and reinforce cooperation in renewable energy, green and environmental protection, aviation and communications. The Turkmen side welcomes China's establishment of "Luban Workshop" in Turkmenistan and hopes to set up a people-to-people and cultural dialogue mechanism with China. Turkmenistan and China share the same or similar positions on major international and regional issues. Turkmenistan firmly supports China in improving the "one country, two systems" policy, resolutely opposes interference in China's internal affairs by other countries, resolutely opposes politicizing the origin tracing of COVID-19, and firmly supports China in safeguarding its core interests.

The two sides agreed to negotiate and sign cooperation documents on Belt and Road cooperation as soon as practicable, work out a plan for cooperation between the two countries in the next five years and a plan for expansion of partnership in economic fields, promote substantive progress in natural gas cooperation talks as soon as possible, and sign cooperation documents in various fields such as international road transport agreements.

Both sides also exchanged in-depth views on international and regional issues of common concern, such as the situation in Afghanistan.

After the meeting, the two sides jointly attended the signing ceremony of the cooperation documents between the two countries.