On August 29, 2021, during a telephone conversation with President of the European Council Charles Michel, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, confirming the serious focus of Turkmenistan on further expanding cooperation with the European Union, noted that today we are faced with urgent tasks of building up partnerships, the topics of which touch the issues of maintaining peace and security in the region of Central Asia and adjacent zones.
The President of Turkmenistan noted that he carefully familiarized himself with the assessments of Mr. Charles Michel about the situation in Afghanistan, as well as with the vision of the European side regarding further multilateral cooperation in the Afghan direction. In this regard, the head of the Turkmen state dwelled on three main principles on which the position of Turkmenistan is based at the current stage of the development of events in the neighboring country.
First, in the political aspect, we advocate the settlement of the situation in Afghanistan only by peaceful, political and diplomatic means and methods. As a neighboring and neutral state, Turkmenistan is ready to assist in establishing appropriate contacts and creating conditions for the early establishment of peace in Afghanistan.
Secondly, in the economic aspect, we emphasize the need to further advance issues related to the implementation of large infrastructure projects, in particular, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, power transmission lines and fiber-optic communications along the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan route, as well as railways connecting Afghanistan with Turkmenistan.
Thirdly, it is the provision of ongoing humanitarian support to Afghanistan to facilitate ongoing peace building processes.
In this regard, it was noted that our country regularly provides direct humanitarian assistance to the brotherly Afghan people.
Based on the above approaches, the Turkmen side has officially announced its position since the beginning of the current Afghan crisis. In this context, the expediency of stepping up the activities of the United Nations, the OSCE and the European Union in providing comprehensive assistance to Afghanistan was expressed.