KABUL (Pajhwok): President Ashraf Ghani and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow on Sunday met before inauguration of the Asian Games in the Turkmen capital.
The two leaders termed games as vital for the region, according a statement from the Presidential Palace in Kabul.
Athletes from 64 countries are participating in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games which got underway on Sunday in Ashgabat.
Two hundred Afghan athletes, with 30 percent of them females, are taking part in the 10-day contests. The Afghans will play games in 16 disciplines of the total 21 different disciplines.
The Turkmen president said he was very happy over the presence of his Afghan counterpart at the inauguration. He wished success to the Afghan players and told the Afghan president that he supported more the Afghan players than his own.
The Turkmen leader said initially 19 countries showed interest in the games but due to Turkmenistan’s good relations with its neighboring countries, athletes from 62 nations were now attending the games.
Ghani congratulated his counterpart over the conduct of the Asian Games and said sports.
“Our relations are deep, multi-dimensional and friendly, Afghanistan considers the happiness of Turkmen people as its own,” Ghani said.
“I came here because I can never say no to my brother, because your decisions regarding Turkmenistan and Afghanistan relations are historic.”
Ghani said Turkmenistan foreign policy and economic vision gave hope to the bilateral relations of the two countries.
The Afghan president again thanked his Turkmen counterpart for inviting him to attend the inaugural ceremony of the Asian Games.
nh/ma
