Hu starts visit to Turkmenistan
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Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Ashgabat Sunday for a two-day working visit to Turkmenistan.
President Hu arrived at the invitation of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.
Hu was greeted at the airport by Deputy Prime Minister Baymyrat Hojamuhammedov and other senior Turkmen officials.
In a written statement released upon arrival, Hu said his current visit is aimed at further promoting mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples and deepening mutually beneficial cooperation in various areas.
Hu will hold talks with President Berdymukhamedov, at which they will review the development of bilateral ties, sum up experience in bilateral cooperation and discuss plans for the future of China-Turkmenistan relations. They will also exchange views on major regional and international issues.
They will witness the signing of a number of cooperation documents and hold a joint press briefing after their talks.
At an earlier press briefing, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya said President Hu's visit will further consolidate the traditional friendship between the two peoples, deepen political trust and practical cooperation and advance the friendly, cooperative partnership in an all-round way.
Friendly exchanges between the two sides date back to more than 1,000 years. The friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries have been growing steadily since they established diplomatic ties in 1992.
Political mutual trust between the two countries has been growing and their cooperation in various areas, including trade, economy, energy, transport, culture and health, has been enhanced. Two-way trade has also grown rapidly over the past few years.
The two countries have firmly supported each other on major issues concerning the other side's core interests, Hu said in the statement, adding that the two countries have conducted close cooperation within the United Nations and other multilateral frameworks, effectively safeguarding their common interests.
In a gesture aimed at advancing cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, President Hu will donate books to the National Library of Turkmenistan. With bilateral exchanges being broadened, more and more Turkmenian people are eager to learn the Chinese language and its history, philosophy, literature and medicine.
During his visit, President Hu will join President Berdymukhamedov, Kazak President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbek President Islam Karimov in officially putting into operation the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline.
Ashgabat is the second leg of Hu's two-nation Central Asia tour, which also took him to Kazakhstan.
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