President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov had a meeting with Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations Headquarters.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed gratitude to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov for his participation in the global forum as well as the proactive position taken by neutral Turkmenistan in cooperation with the United Nations. This is evidenced by the new initiatives and constructive proposals on the promotion of balanced approaches to tackling the pressing challenges in global development in 2016-2030 put forward by the Turkmen side at the Summit.
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov congratulated the United Nations in the person of Ban Ki-moon on the 70th anniversary and the anniversary General Assembly, the achievements, including in the implementation of the 15 Year United Nations Programme Millennium Development Goals and the progress in addressing the environmental, changes climate and gender equality issues and conduct of the Summit.
The Turkmen leader reaffirmed that Turkmenistan was committed to a constructive dialogue with the UN, emphasizing that the visit of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Ashgabat in June this year had given a new impetus to cooperation between our country and the United Nations. The Turkmen leader said that it was at the United Nations that the aspiration of our country to be a neutral, peaceful and non-aligned state had gained support from the international community. Noting that the year 2015 had been declared the Year of Neutrality and Peace in Turkmenistan in honour of the historic date, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov invited the Secretary-General of the United Nations to participate in the international conference and celebrations, marking the important event, which will take place in Ashgabat in December.
A substantive exchange of views on the current state and the prospects of bilateral cooperation that had profound positive experience of partnership and a number of completed and on-going joint projects in various spheres in its assets took place during the meeting.
The striking examples include the Ashgabat-headquartered United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) that had become an effective negotiation platform for a constructive dialogue between the United Nations and countries of the region in a number of important fields, including water and energy issues and fight against drug trafficking and international terrorism since it was established.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations thanked the Turkmen leader for providing comprehensive assistance in disarmament processes in Asia, ensuring global energy security, protecting the environmental and tackling humanitarian issues, including those related to migration, assistance to refugees and stateless persons. The UN Secretary-General highlighted the significant contribution made by Turkmenistan to peaceful development and restoration of social and economic infrastructure of neighbouring Afghanistan, which, in its turn, had a positive impact on the situation in the region as a whole.
Dwelling upon such a priority aspect of international development as energy security, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that the adoption of two Resolutions of the United Nations on reliable and stable transit of energy resources, supported by all UN Member States, was a significant step in this field. The Turkmen leader said that Turkmenistan would continue to work on the institutionalization of activities of the international expert group and galvanize a substantive dialogue on reliable and stable energy transit as a key item on the global agenda.
The detailed discussion focused on Turkmenistan-UN cooperation in tackling the climate change and environmental issues. An exchange of views on the implementation of the agreements reached at the World Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20, the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and the World Water Forum as well as the enhancement of cooperation at regional level and the elaboration of systematic approaches to achieving targets in this field.
Marit Fosse
