At the recent meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov was informed of the draft Cycling Promotion Programme of Turkmenistan for 2021–2025 and the draft Action Plan to the Programme. Speaking about the timeliness of promoting the large-scale physical culture and sports movement in our country, the leader of the nation emphasised sport was a crucial factor contributing to peace and friendly relations among states and nations. Sports diplomacy that has a profound impact on the foreign policy of our state enables Turkmenistan to more often host major international tournaments, including cycling competitions. This is illustrated by the World Track Cycling Championships to be held in Ashgabat this autumn.

The Turkmen leader highlighted the importance of bringing the draft Programme in line with modern requirements, in particular, the adoption of measures to build up material and technical resources necessary to promote cycling in the country. An important step towards this goal was made in 2013, when the National Cycling Technical Centre of Turkmenistan was established on the initiative of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov (the Cycling Promotion Programme for 2013–2017 was approved the same year) that profoundly facilitated the work of the National Cycling Federation. Along with building up the material and technical base, the new sports organisation is responsible for providing athletes, coaches and judges with methodological publications, training and selecting the strongest athletes for the national team, organising competitions at various levels, including international ones and many others.