KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia is one of the important and traditional partners of Turkmenistan in trade, economic and investment spheres, said Turkmenistan’s ambassador to Malaysia Muhammetnyyaz Mashalov.
Mashalov said that an example of the effective use of existing mutual opportunities in this regard was the long-term partnership with Malaysian company Petronas Carigali, which invests heavily in the fuel and energy sector in his country.
“This company was one of the first which started working on offshore fields in Turkmenistan. The package of documents which was signed between Turkmengas and Petronas — will be a good basis for further moving forward along the path of mutually beneficial partnership,” he said.
He was speaking on Friday at the conference “Turkmenistan-Malaysia: 30 Years of Diplomatic Relations” dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Diplomatic relations between Ashgabat and Kuala Lumpur on May 17, 1992. The event was held at the Turkmenistan embassy here.
The ambassador pointed out that the launching in 2011 of a large industrial complex – an onshore gas terminal in the village of Kiyanly in the Balkan region of Turkmenistan and a complex for assembling sea-based structures were the evidence of the ability of the two countries to implement large industrial projects.
In his speech, Mashalov emphasised Turkmenistan’s mutual readiness to effectively use the existing potential for the development of Turkmen-Malaysian relations across the entire spectrum of joint activities.
“We firmly spoke out in favour of the need to preserve and increase the dynamics of partnership, to enrich it with new forms and directions. We are convinced that this meets the long-term strategic interests of our states, the logic of bilateral cooperation in recent years, which can have a beneficial effect on the development of political, trade and economic ties at the international and regional levels,” he said.
He explained that today, Turkmenistan pays special attention to the development of relations with the Asia-Pacific region, highlighting it as a strategic direction of its foreign policy and foreign economic activity.
In this context, Turkmenistan is following the activities of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with interest, where they see quite real prospects for cooperation between Turkmenistan and ASEAN, primarily in the trade and economic sphere.
“And we are ready to consider certain forms of closer and substantive cooperation with this international organisation. We consider Malaysia as one of our key partners in the implementation of these plans,” he further said.
On the foreign policy front, Mashalov said that both countries share common principles and approaches to a number of basic problems of modern international politics, among others the strengthening of the system of stability and security in the world, in Central Asia and in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Exchanging views on these issues, Turkmenistan and Malaysia expressed the readiness to continue to closely cooperate within the framework of major international organisations, primarily in the United Nations, as well as in the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and others,” he said.
The ambassador also expressed his country’s gratitude to Malaysia’s support for Turkmenistan’s international initiatives in the field of energy security, sustainable transport and environmental protection.
In the field of education and training of qualified personnel, Mashalov said that successful experience of the Turkmen-Malaysian partnership has been accumulated in these fields.
Mashalov said Turkmenistan has a great interest in the educational opportunities in Malaysia and this was evident with some 200 Turkmen students pursuing their studies in Malaysia now.
Turkmenistan and Malaysia also have been actively cooperating for many years within the framework of educational and training projects of the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP), where training is provided in the most important areas of the national economy – economic planning, privatisation, agriculture, banking and foreign investment.
Citizens of Turkmenistan are also annually sent to study at the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, he said.
Mashalov further said that the practice of sending Turkmen diplomats to courses at the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) has also proven to be beneficial for his country.
