On April 15, 2026, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council Ding Xuexiang met with National Leader of the Turkmen people and Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in Ashgabat.

Ding Xuexiang first conveyed the warm greetings and best wishes of President Xi Jinping. He noted that under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and Chairman Berdimuhamedov, China-Turkmenistan relations have maintained rapid and sound development, achieving a leap forward from a friendly cooperative partnership to a strategic partnership, and then to a comprehensive strategic partnership. China stands ready to work with Turkmenistan to implement the important common understandings reached by the heads of state of the two countries, give full play to the role of the Chinese-Turkmen intergovernmental cooperation committee, and accelerate the development of bilateral cooperation across the board.

Ding Xuexiang stated that natural gas cooperation is a vivid example of win-win results in China-Turkmenistan relations. It has enjoyed steady growth and yielded fruitful results in recent years, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples. Both sides should view natural gas cooperation from a higher strategic and long-term perspective, build on the positive momentum and seize the window of opportunity for cooperation, move toward each other, accelerate the implementation of major projects, expand the scale of natural gas cooperation, and continuously enhance the quality and efficiency of energy cooperation. At the same time, efforts should be made to further elevate cooperation in non-resource sectors such as connectivity, economy and trade, and investment, and expand cooperation in photovoltaic power, wind power, new energy vehicles, and artificial intelligence. China stands ready to continue to strengthen coordination and collaboration with Turkmenistan under the framework of the China-Central Asia mechanism, and support Turkmenistan, a permanently neutral country, in playing a greater role on multilateral platforms such as the United Nations.

Berdimuhamedov asked Ding Xuexiang to convey his sincere greetings to President Xi Jinping, noting that his visit to China last month achieved practical outcomes and left warm memories. Turkmenistan abides by the one-China principle and supports China’s territorial integrity and national reunification. China-Turkmenistan cooperation enjoys a solid political foundation. Turkmenistan stands ready to work with China to jointly implement the consensus reached, strengthen strategic alignment, actively expand energy cooperation, and continue to deepen cooperation and exchanges in connectivity, trade and investment, agriculture, people-to-people exchanges and other fields to benefit the two peoples. Turkmenistan appreciates China’s support for its permanent neutrality policy and stands ready to strengthen coordination and collaboration with China in international affairs, and jointly safeguard regional prosperity and development as well as world peace and stability.