On January 20, 2011, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping met with departing Turkmen Ambassador to China Murad Nazarov. Cheng spoke highly of the achievements in the development of China-Turkmenistan relations. Cheng fully acknowledged the great efforts Nazarov has made in his tenure to develop bilateral ties, expressing hope that Nazarov can make even greater contributions to China-Turkmenistan friendly relations on his new post. Nazarov thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and other agencies for offering positive support and great assistance during his tenure as ambassador to China. He said Turkmenistan attaches great importance to developing ties with China and is ready to further deepen bilateral political mutual trust, push forward mutually beneficial cooperation in economy, trade and energy and continuously uplift the level of bilateral friendly cooperative relations.