On 10 March 2023, Ambassador of the European Union to Turkmenistan Diego Ruiz Alonso held a working meeting with the newly appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Myahri Byashimova. EU Ambassador and Deputy Minister discussed strengthening of cooperation between Turkmenistan and EU.

EU Ambassador noted that 2023 marks the 30^th anniversary of the bilateral relations between the EU and Turkmenistan. During this time parties have cooperated in various fields, including human rights, rule of law, democratization, education, customs, agriculture, energy, transit, logistics, economy and others. With the new global and regional challenges, it is important to reconsider the priority actions moving toward green transition and improving business climate in Turkmenistan, and strengthen the existing channels of communication, including through the annual bilateral high level meetings.

Ambassador also underlined the need to take advantage of the planned visits of EU Special Representative for Central Asia Terhi Hakala, EU Special Representative for human rights Eamon Gilmore and the European Parliament Delegation to advance in the ratification of the Partnership and cooperation agreements (PCA), to provide for a legal framework that could bring bilateral relations between the EU and Turkmenistan to another level during this year celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the EU and Turkmenistan. In this context, the exchange of high level visits was also discussed.

During the negotiations, Ms Byashimova noted that partnership with the European Union is one of the key directions of the foreign policy of Turkmenistan. In this context, it was emphasized that cooperation has been established in the widest range of areas, including political-diplomatic, trade-economic, cultural and humanitarian areas. The parties also noted the effective interaction of Turkmenistan within the framework of the “Central Asia-European Union” format. At the same time, the importance of the updated EU Strategy for Central Asia adopted in June 2019, which provides a political and diplomatic basis for regional cooperation, was emphasized.

During the meeting, the agenda of bilateral projects related to the near future was discussed.