On Sept. 4, 2013, President Xi Jinping and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov jointly attended the inauguration ceremony of the first-phase construction of Fuxing Gas Field, which was undertaken by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

Around 9:40a.m. Sept. 4 local time, Xi Jinping's special plane landed at the Mary Airport, where the Fuxing Gas Field is located. Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov led ten vice prime ministers of the Turkmen government to greet Xi Jinping near the plane ladder. Children sent flowers, bread and salt to welcome the distinguished Chinese guests, with local traditional etiquette.

There were portraits of the two heads of state and slogans written in Chinese and Turkmen standing at the airport: Turkmenistan-China friendship lasts forever. Tens of thousands of local people wore colorful national costumes, waving flowers and cheering enthusiastically. In the exciting music, young men and women briskly performed national dances. The two heads of state came before them, stopping to watch. Afterwards, Xi Jinping went to the Fuxing Gas Field, accompanied by Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. During the more-than-one-hour drive, nearly 100,000 people wore festive clothes along the way, giving a warm welcome to Xi Jinping cheerfully. They waved flags, flowers and balloons, and chanted slogans rhythmically, some singing and dancing, and some displaying local simple and harmonious folk customs, expressing their friendly feelings towards the Chinese people.

When Xi Jinping and Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov arrived at the gas field, people who waited there were on the boil, and workers lined up to welcome the Chinese guests. Sounds of songs, dances and cheers were weaved into a sea of friendship and festivity. The two heads of state waved their greetings to them.

The two heads of state came to the No. 1 natural gas processing plant, first visited the project model and listened to the introductions, accompanied by CNPC personnel in charge. They walked into the main venue together and seated themselves at the rostrum.

Xi Jinping delivered a speech, expressing his high respect and heartfelt thanks to the experts and engineering technical personnel of both countries who participated in the construction of the project.

Xi Jinping pointed out that the Fuxing Gas Field is another model of successful mutual beneficial cooperation between China and Turkmenistan, carries the sincere desires of the people of both countries to promote development through cooperation, and will inject a new and strong driving force into the energy cooperation on both sides. From the completion and operation of the China-Central Asia gas pipeline, to the increasing capacity of the gas field on the right bank of the Amu Darya River, and to the successful inauguration of first-phase construction of Fuxing Gas Field, in merely a few years, China-Turkmenistan energy cooperation has achieved leapfrog development, obtaining brilliant achievements that astonished the world. It has strongly proved again that the bilateral energy cooperation is completely in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries and their people, and has great potential and broad prospects.

Xi stressed that the establishment of China-Turkmenistan strategic partnership has provided new opportunities for both sides to deepen energy cooperation. I believe that the bilateral energy cooperation will go further and make even greater progress, better benefiting the people of both countries. We sincerely hope that the bilateral relations and the development of the revitalization cause of both countries can thrive flourishingly and continue to make new achievements, just like the implied meaning of Fuxing, which is revitalization.

Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said in his speech that China-Turkmenistan energy cooperation has huge potential and is very productive. It is an important part of the bilateral strategic partnership, and has also driven the economic development of Central Asian regions. The Fuxing Gas Field is another successful example of energy cooperation between the two countries. Turkmenistan would like to work with China to continue to strengthen natural gas exploitation and transportation and international energy security cooperation, realizing common development and prosperity.

The inauguration ceremony began. The two heads of state, in turn, touched two crystal balls, representing the two countries, the map of the two countries flickered on a big screen, and the white conduit connecting the two crystal balls were gradually turning blue, symbolizing another important natural gas pipeline between the two countries officially operational.

There were long and big applause among the audience from time to time, jointly congratulating the bilateral cooperation on achieving new important results.

Afterwards, Xi Jinping and Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov also came to the No.2 and No.3 natural gas processing plants, and attended the inauguration ceremony.

Wang Huning, Li Zhanshu, Yang Jiechi and other officials attended the above-mentioned activities.

Fuxing Gas Field is the world's second largest gas field, with proved reserves of between four and six trillion cubic meters. The gas field is an important base for Turkmenistan's natural gas export, as well as an important gas source for China-Turkmenistan natural gas cooperation.