ASHGABAT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2021) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has congratulated his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov with Neutrality Day, saying that Kiev is expecting to strengthen its relationship with Ashgabat.
Neutrality Day is Turkmenistan's second-most important public holiday after Independence Day.
"We expect to intensify the relations between our countries, which corresponds to the spirit of partnership and will facilitate deeper Ukrainian-Turkmen cooperation in the areas of mutual interest," Zelenskyy said in a message published by the state-run Neytralnyy Turkmenistan (Neutral Turkmenistan) newspaper on Sunday.
Kiev has been interested in developing energy cooperation with Ashgabat as it seeks to restore direct supplies of natural gas from Turkmenistan, which it lost after the 2003 Russian-Turkmen gas agreement. Currently, all gas deliveries from Turkmenistan to Ukraine are possible only through the Russian transmission network.
