China and Turkmenistan pledged Tuesday to promote bilateral energy cooperation and push forward their natural gas pipeline project.

The two sides made the pledge in a joint declaration issued following talks between visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Turkmenian counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

In the document, the two sides agreed to take measures to guarantee a safe and stable operation of Line A and Line B of the Turkmenistan-China natural gas pipeline, as well as a sound implementation of their natural gas project on the right bank of Amu Darya, a major river in Central Asia.

Meanwhile, they vowed to work together to complete the construction of Line C and make it ready for gas transmission at an early date, and to make sure that Line D will be completed and ready for gas transmission in 2016.

Eventually, according to the document, they will achieve the target of transmitting 65 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.

Prior to his visit, Xi said in an interview that China, a major energy consumer, and Turkmenistan, a major energy producer, enjoy a natural advantage and huge potential in energy cooperation.

The two countries have already carried out major cooperation projects, such as the China-Central Asia gas pipeline, he said, noting that the pipeline has linked up with the second line of China's west-to-east gas transmission project to form the longest natural gas pipeline in the world.

The two sides, he added, may launch all-dimensional energy cooperation and be each other's long-term, stable and reliable strategic partner in the energy field.

Xi is in Turkmenistan for an ongoing Central Asia tour, which will also take him to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. He will also attend a Group of Twenty summit in the Russian city of St. Petersburg and a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan. 

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