High-level meeting in Ashgabat "Towards a Comprehensive Implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia

30 April 2018

On 30 April, 2018, in Ashgabat, a high-level meeting, entitled "Towards a Comprehensive Implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia" was held, and the third phase of a joint project, supporting the Joint Action Plan for Central Asia (JAP) was launched.

The event was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and the United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), with the participation of the UN Under-Secretary-General, Head of the UN Counter-Terrorism Department Mr. Vladimir Voronkov, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Central Asia, the Head of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Ms. Natalia Herman, deputy foreign ministers of the Central Asian states, as well as heads of UN regional structures.

As it is known, the first and second phases of the project were implemented in the period of 2010-2017 and are devoted to the consideration of four main directions of the Global Strategy for drawing up recommendations on the development of JAP, which is the first of its kind and was adopted in Ashgabat in December 2011.

In the long term, it is expected that the new phase of the joint regional counter-terrorism initiative of UNRCCA and UNOCT, entitled "Towards a comprehensive implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia" will be aimed at further strengthening the capacity of the Central Asian states in the field of combating terrorism and preventing violent extremism on a strategic basis.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Voronkov noted that the main activities of the project will include the provision of targeted support in the development of national and regional strategies to combat terrorism and prevent violent extremism, further strengthening the capacity of the Central Asian countries in the priority areas, identified in the JAP for Central Asia and facilitating the exchange of best practices in the region and beyond.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. S. Berdimuhamedov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated about Turkmenistan’s further readiness to offer cooperation with the UNOCT on the implementation of the Ashgabat Plan of Action of the UN Counter-Terrorism Strategy. In this context, the Turkmen side made a number of concrete proposals in this direction, targeted at resorting to the UNRCCA.

In turn, Ms. Herman noted that in accordance with her mandate in the field of regional and preventive diplomacy, UNRCCA will jointly implement this initiative and promote regional and cross-border cooperation in preventing violent extremism and combating terrorism in coordination with other regional partners, active in this field in Central Asia.

At the end of the forum, a Statement was adopted following the results of the High-level Meeting "Towards a Comprehensive Implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia".

Finally, a press conference was held at the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan for journalists from foreign media, accredited in Ashgabat and representatives of the national media.