On 8 January 2020, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov had a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkmenistan to the People's Republic of China Parakhat Durdyev at the SCO Secretariat.
Vladimir Norov and Parakhat Durdyev discussed the further expansion of collaboration between the SCO and Turkmenistan.
The Ambassador of Turkmenistan wished a Happy New Year to the SCO Secretary-General, as well as every success in implementing all the Organisation's ambitious development plans.
Parakhat Durdyev praised the SCO's diverse activities and its collaboration with Turkmenistan. He informed the SCO Secretary-General about various events, scheduled to be organised by the Turkmen side throughout 2020, and dwelled on the preparations to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Turkmenistan's permanent Neutrality.
In this connection, he handed a letter from President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the SCO Secretary-General. In his letter, the President of Turkmenistan invited Vladimir Norov to take part in an international conference dealing with the Neutrality policy and its significance for maintaining international peace, security and sustained development, scheduled to be held in Ashgabat on 11-12 December 2020.
In turn, Vladimir Norov asked Parakhat Durdyev to thank the President of Turkmenistan for his invitation and noted that Turkmenistan's active involvement in international affairs made it possible to talk about an important peacemaking role of the Turkmen state. "One should single out the use of preventive diplomacy principles, a key element of UN activities, by Turkmenistan," the SCO Secretary-General said.
Vladimir Norov spoke to the Ambassador about SCO activities and various plans. He also discussed the Organisation's role in international affairs, as well as its economic, transport and logistic potential, in great detail. He focused on expanded intra-SCO cooperation in the sphere of innovations, digitalisation and online trade.
The meeting took place in a constructive and friendly manner.