President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov met with Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon
On September 26, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov met with Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon at the UN Headquarters.
The head of Turkmen state and the Secretary-General of the United Nations had posed for photographs opposite the State Flag of Turkmenistan and the UN Flag. The head of the United Nations expressed gratitude to President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov for his personal participation in the global forum, as well as for neutral Turkmenistan’s active position in cooperation with the Global Community of Nations. Announced at the Summit, the Turkmen party’s new initiatives and constructive proposals, designed to work out well-balanced approaches to tackling topical issues of global development for 2016-2030, serve as clear evidence of it.
Highly estimating and regarding the President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov’s open and peaceful policy as a key factor in strengthening peace, stability and security in Central Asia and on a global basis, Mr. Ban Ki-moon stressed the importance of Turkmenistan’s neutral status, whose 20th anniversary our country is celebrating this year.
A constructive role of Turkmen neutrality was reconfirmed by the UN Resolution “Permanent neutrality of Turkmenistan” adopted at the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly in June, 2015.
Truly grateful to the UN Secretary-General for the hospitable reception, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov congratulated Ban Ki-moon and the UN on the 70th anniversary of its activity and the jubilee General Assembly, the achievements accomplished, including in realization of the 15-year UN Program “Millennium Development Goals”, as well as the achievements in tackling the issues of ecology and climate change, gender policy, and of holding the Summit.
The head of state confirmed Turkmenistan’s commitment to the by-now constructive dialogue with the UN. It was in the United Nations that our country’s aspiration to be a neutral, peaceful, non-aligned state won support of the whole international community. Having highlighted that to mark the historic date, the year 2015 had been announced the Year of Neutrality and Peace in Turkmenistan, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov invited the UN Secretary-General to take part in the International Conference and celebrations devoted to the significant event to be held in Ashgabat in December.
During the meeting, a detailed exchange of opinions was held on the current state and prospects of bilateral cooperation encouraged by its considerable positive experience of partnership, and a number of successfully implemented and ongoing joint projects in different spheres.
One such is establishment of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia in Ashgabat. Over the years of its existence, the Center has become an efficient negotiation-favored ground for an interest-based, constructive dialogue between the UN and countries of the region on a number of important trends, including the water and energy issues, the measures to combat illicit drugs turnover and international terrorism.
Pending the issue of cooperation, the head of the United Nations thanked the President of Turkmenistan for every kind of assistance in the disarmament processes in Asian countries, for ensuring global energy security and protection of the environment, as well as for tackling humanitarian issues, including the issues of migration, rendering assistance to refugees and stateless persons. Particular emphasis the Secretary-General made on Turkmenistan’s distinguished contribution to the peaceful development and restoration of neighboring Afghanistan’s socio-economic infrastructure, what, in turn, makes a beneficial impact on the situation in the region on the whole.
Focusing on such a priority aspect of international issues, as ensuring of energy security, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov highlighted that the adoption of the two UN Resolutions on safe and stable transit of energy resources, supported by all the UN member countries, had become an important step in this area. Turkmenistan will continue the work on institutional strengthening of the International Expert Group’s activity, and advancement of a meaningful dialogue on safe and stable transit of energy resources as a key element of the global agenda, the head of state said.
Touching upon the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov centered attention on the concrete Turkmenistan-initiated energy and transport projects – the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, and the project for building of a combined transit-transport infrastructure - assigned to make a positive contribution to sustainable socio-economic development of Central Asian countries, to encourage mutually beneficial trade-economic cooperation in the Eurasian area.
Detailed consideration was also given to the Turkmenistan-UN cooperation on the issues of climate change and environment protection. The parties exchanged views on the implementation progress of the agreements reached at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”), the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, and the VII World Water Forum, as well as the agreements on strengthening regional cooperation and developing approaches to tackling the tasks in this field.
The UN Secretary-General gave high praise to the character of democratic processes and large-scale socio-economic reforms ongoing in Turkmenistan, which, first of all, had contributed to education, health care, the social sector; he also expressed confidence that further steps in this direction would enable Turkmenistan to take its place among the most successful and prosperous states.
Having noted that the key objectives and goals of Turkmenistan’s home and foreign policy are consonant with the main objectives and goals of the United Nations, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov reaffirmed the Turkmen party’s commitment to fruitful cooperation in the name of attaining the imperishable humanistic and creative ideals of mankind the UN’s activity is based on.
Exchanging farewells, the head of Turkmen state and the UN Secretary-General expressed confidence in the successful continuation of the effective and strategic cooperation based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and trust.
Upon completion of the visit to New York, the Turkmen leader proceeded to John. F Kennedy International Airport to depart for his home country.
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During the working visit to the USA by our country’s Government delegation led by President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, on behalf of the head of state, representatives of our country participated in a number of international events, organized in the framework of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly.
One such was the 39th meeting between foreign ministries “Group 77 plus China” – the largest intergovernmental organization of developing countries functioning in the frames of the United Nations and its agencies.
The Turkmen delegation also had a meeting with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Ms Christina Gallach, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (“UN Women”) Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
On September 25, “UN Women” conducted a high-level Interactive Dialogue entitled “Tackling inequalities, empowering women and girls and leaving no one behind”, at which Turkmenistan was also represented. The participants were informed about the successful implementation of gender policy in Turkmenistan, which is one of the main trends of the strategy of positive reforms in all the spheres of state life and society.
On September 26, in the framework of the 70th meeting of the General Assembly, a number of top-level large events were held with participation of the Turkmen delegation. They are: a meeting entitled “Social Harmony for Sustainable Development: Promoting respect and understanding in the time of tolerance”; an Interactive Dialogue “Fostering sustainable economic growth, transformation and promoting sustainable consumption and production”; meetings “Food security in the post-2015 Development Agenda”; and “Launching the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals”.
All these topics had received consideration in the speech by President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov at the Sustainable Development Summit, as well as in many initiatives earlier introduced by the Turkmen leader from the rostrums of various representative international forums and the United Nations. The ways of tackling global topical issues are also identified in the national programs for Turkmenistan’s socio-economic development, the Foreign Policy Conception of the country, and serve as a basis for many large-scale projects under way at the regional level and in partnership with international organizations.
Another important event with the participation of the Turkmen party’s representatives was a high-level meeting “Promoting realization and achievement of water-related Sustainable Development Goals”. The issues placed on the plenary meeting agenda had something in common with the initiatives forwarded by the President of Turkmenistan at the VII World Water Forum held in the city of Taegu (Korea) in April this year.
“The Global Leaders’ meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: A commitment to Action” - was one more representative event of the day.
Besides, representatives of Turkmenistan attended the meeting “Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process”. The event focused on considering the new agenda for regional cooperation in the framework of the Istanbul Process, whose main aim is to render assistance to Afghanistan in ensuring peace, stability and development.
Actively using the possibilities of its positive neutral status, Turkmenistan has repeatedly submitted numerous proposals for consideration by the Global Community of Nations concerning Afghanistan’s restoration. Among them was a proposal to hold in Ashgabat in 2016 an International Forum on Security and Cooperation in Central Asia. As an active participant of the Program of Activities in the frames of the Istanbul Process, Turkmenistan also proposes to host the 7th Regional Economic Conference on Afghanistan in 2017.
State News Agency of Turkmenistan (TDH)