Hu holds talks with Turkmen president

BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao held talks on  Wednesday with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The Turkmen president arrived in the Chinese capital Tuesday afternoon to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Hu said he believes that Berdymukhamedov's visit to China for the summit would strongly boost the development of bilateral ties.

Berdymukhamedov said as a neutral state, Turkmanistan is willing to be actively engaged in regional and trans-regional cooperation projects within the framework of the SCO under the precondition that they are in line with his country's national interests and foreign policy.

Turkmanistan-China relations have enjoyed a rather stable development over the past 20 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties and the two countries hold the same positions on many issues, he added.