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By Amina Nazarli

Full-scale and long-term cooperation with the United Nations is Turkmenistan’s unchanging strategic choice, said Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

The head of state made the remark at a meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Ashgabat, the Turkmenistan State News Agency reported on June 13.

At the talks, Berdimuhamedov stressed the special significance of Guterres’s visit in the context of the 25th anniversary of Turkmenistan’s accession to the UN, celebrated this year.

Turkmenistan cooperates with the UN in security sphere, issues of sustainable development, energy, transportation, environment, as well as in development and establishment of democratic institutions.

Energy issues on focus

Berdimuhamedov went on saying that Turkmenistan intends to continue cooperation with the UN on energy security issues.

“Our country will continue active cooperation with the UN on this issue, and in this regard, we rely on you, the distinguished Secretary General, on your support in these issues,” Berdimuhamedov told Guterres.

Turkmenistan is one of main players in the energy market of the Caspian region and ranks fourth in the world for its gas reserves. The country is studying opportunities to export its gas to Europe and Asia.

Turkmenistan took over the chairmanship of the Energy Charter Conference in 2017.

Ashgabat hosted the Energy Charter Forum, titled “Towards a Multilateral Framework Agreement on Transit of Energy Resources”, in late May 2017.

Turkmenistan’s role in helping refugees

The UN Secretary General further expressed his gratitude to Turkmenistan for helping refugees and stateless persons.

He recalled that he had cooperated with the Turkmen side as UN high commissioner for refugees. There were numerous refugees and stateless persons in difficult times in Turkmenistan, and the country successfully integrated those people into its society by positively solving their problems, Guterres said.

Turkmenistan’s role in ensuring stability in the region

Guterres also appreciated the role of Turkmenistan's neutrality in ensuring peace and stability.

He added that conflict situations occur in many regions of the world, noting that neutrality allows Turkmenistan play an important role in the region full of vital problems.

The General Assembly of the UN proclaimed December 12 an International Day of Neutrality on the initiative of Turkmenistan. According to the approved military doctrine, Turkmenistan follows a policy of positive neutrality and defense sufficiency.

Meanwhile, Ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan adopted a joint declaration on strengthening regional collaboration to counter terrorism, which signed in Ashgabat at a meeting of the High-Level UN-Central Asian Dialogue on Implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia, chaired by Guterres.

The objective of the meeting was to review progress on implementation of the Joint Plan of Action for the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia and to define future strategic counter-terrorism priorities for the region.

Guterres reiterated the readiness of the UN to continue supporting regional and national efforts of Central Asian countries in fighting terrorism.

“Central Asian countries are leading by example in the joint implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy at the regional level,” commended Guterres adding that the Joint Plan of Action for Central Asia is the first of its kind around the world.

The declaration welcomes the recent initiative of the secretary-general to reform the UN counter-terrorism architecture by establishing a new Office of Counter-Terrorism and acknowledges the importance of UN counter-terrorism efforts in the region.

The Secretary-General also noted that policies that limit human rights only end up alienating religious and ethnic communities, who would normally have every interest in fighting extremism.

The Secretary-General also expressed his appreciation to the Central Asian countries for their “commitment to jointly addressing and defeating the scourge of terrorism” and for further strengthening regional cooperation and coordination in this field.

“No one country can defeat terrorism alone,” Guterres said.

He also reiterated the readiness of the United Nations to continue supporting regional and national efforts of Central Asian countries in this regard.

He added that his counter-terrorism architecture reform initiative to establish a new Office of Counter-Terrorism “will provide stronger leadership, enhance coordination and coherence across the system, strengthen capacity building support, mobilize political will and robust partnership to ensure a balanced implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.”

The Central Asian ministers expressed their concern about the threat of terrorism and resolved to implement the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and recommendations of the Secretary-General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism by promoting dialogue and conflict prevention, addressing foreign terrorist fighters phenomenon, promoting skills development and employment facilitation, countering terrorist narrative and the misuse of information technologies.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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