Turkmen leader, US top commander discuss stronger security coop.

12/1 Tass 127

ASGABAT, January 12 (Itar-Tass) - Turkmen President Gurbanguly
Berdymukhamedov and commander of United States Central Command, General
James Mattis expressed readiness to step up cooperation and resolve
problems of drug trafficking and terrorism in the Central Asian region.
Prospects for stronger partnership in the context of pressing security
tasks topped the agenda of the Tuesday meeting, local mass media reports.
The U.S. government plans to further develop multifaceted cooperation
with Turkmenistan that the United States considers a reliable partner, he
said.
This is Mattis' first visit to Ashgabat after he was appointed last
August the commander of the Central Command that coordinates actions of
the U.S. armed forces in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Berdymukhamedov underlined that cooperation with the U.S. is one of
Turkmenistan's foreign policy priorities.
At the same time he noted that proceeding from Turkmenistan's neutral
status the country urges a constructive dialogue on the regional and
global scale aimed at facilitating mutually advantageous cooperation to
resolve problems of concern to mankind.
According to Turkmenistan's mass media, Berdymakhamedov and Mattis
confirmed the two countries' readiness to boost effective cooperation and
develop a traditional interstate dialogue that had been given new dynamics
of late.

-0-isk/gor