On March 14, at a government meeting, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs Rashid Meredov reported on ongoing efforts to expand the partnership between Turkmenistan and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The Foreign Minister outlined several proposals aimed at further strengthening cooperation with the IMO. In particular, to facilitate Turkmenistan’s accession to IMO conventions, it was proposed to establish a working group composed of representatives from relevant ministries and sectoral agencies. In the context of reinforcing the international legal framework for cooperation in shipping and transport, one of the primary tasks of this working group is to advance Turkmenistan’s accession to the IMO Convention on the Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic. Additionally, it was proposed to organize visits by IMO leaders to Turkmenistan during 2026 to discuss prospective areas of partnership, as well as various seminars and practical conferences with participation from IMO representatives. Summarizing the report, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov noted that productive work is underway in the country to ensure full compliance with the requirements of IMO conventions at a high level. Approving the proposals for developing cooperation in this field, the head of state assigned a series of tasks to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Source: online newspaper “Turkmenistan: Golden age”