On April 17, 2020, an International Media Forum was held in the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, in the form of a video conference dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Turkmenistan’s permanent neutrality.
The media forum was attended by heads and representatives of several ministries and departments of Turkmenistan, members of the faculty of a number of Turkmen universities, national media, scientists, experts, as well as leaders and representatives of major news agencies such as MIR, TASS, TRT AVAZ, TV-24, NEWS ASTRO, Azertadzh, Anadolu Azhansy, Arminfo, Renmin Ribao, Kazinform, Mangistau-Media, Noyan Tapan, NHK, China daily, News Day Georgia, Daily Ittehad, Business Central Asia, Kabar, Psearcher, MIA Trend, UzReport», «NEWS ASTRO», «News of Uzbekistan» and newsroom Asia-Caucasus. Along with news agencies, the media forum was attended by representatives of other media, including the Russian Foreign Ministry magazine “International Life”, the magazines “Istanbul today”, “Diplomatic Gozlem”, “The Diplomatic Insight”, “The Georgian Business Week”, “Diva International” and newspaper publications “Russian Newspaper”, “Multinational Georgia”, as well as the television channel “Objective” and others.
The meeting was also attended by rectors and professors of well-known foreign universities, heads of authoritative foreign public organizations and more than 50 correspondents of news agencies from over 20 countries of the world.
At the opening of the media forum, the importance of Turkmenistan’s policy of permanent neutrality, conducted under the leadership of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, was noted.
During the speeches, the forum participants spoke about their vision of the status of positive neutrality of Turkmenistan, aimed at promoting humane values, achieving progress in the world exclusively through peaceful and constructive dialogue. A video was shown as part of the media forum, which demonstrated the success of the time-tested neutrality policy of Turkmenistan.
According to A. Kopnov, Deputy General Director of TASS Information Agency of Russia: “The neutrality of Turkmenistan serves as a good basis for the development of friendly and mutually beneficial relations between the states of the region and the world. Turkmenistan’s permanent neutrality reflects the desire of its people to maintain peace and good neighborly relations with other countries”.
In his speech, Professor S. Faltas, doctor of economic sciences, independent consultant on democratization and security sector reforms in the Netherlands, emphasized that Turkmenistan has successfully combined positive neutrality with its foreign policy, which is implemented on the principles of good neighborliness and mutual respect. Expressing gratitude to the Turkmen side for organizing this Media Forum, Professor Faltas noted the valuable input of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat which provided assistance for his participation in the given event.
During his speech, V. Shadursky, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Dean of the Department of International Relations of the Belarus State University, highlighted the special importance of the Neutrality of Turkmenistan in the context of strengthening and expanding mutually beneficial friendly relations between peoples and countries of the world.
Also B. Akhmetov, Rector of the Caspian State University of Technology and Engineering named after S. Yesenov, the Republic of Kazakhstan, having specified the main directions of the Institute of Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan, noted that “Kazakhstan, as a friendly country, supports the policy of neutrality of Turkmenistan and respects its independently chosen development path.”
The event participants also exchanged views on issues of Turkmen neutrality in the “question-answer” format. All participants were invited to take part in the international conference “The policy of Neutrality and its role in ensuring international peace, security and sustainable development”, scheduled for December this year in Ashgabat.
