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By Trend

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov met in New York with the Under-Secretary-General of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office Vladimir Voronkov, Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message.

Voronkov positively assessed the results of his recent visit to Turkmenistan and the adoption of a counter-terrorism strategy for Central Asia. In turn, Berdimuhamedov noted the need to intensify efforts and to switch over to concrete actions in the fight against terrorism and prevention of violent extremism in the region, the message says.

The meeting was held within the framework of the participation of the delegation of Turkmenistan in the opening ceremony of the ministerial segment of the high-level Political forum on sustainable development under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council on the theme "Transformation towards a sustainable and resilient society".

Last year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was on a visit to the Turkmen capital, welcomed the adoption of the Ashgabat Declaration on countering terrorism by the Central Asian countries. "Central Asian countries are an example in the joint implementation of the UN Global counter-terrorism strategy at the regional level," Guterres said at the time, adding that the joint action plan for Central Asia is the first of its kind in the world.

The policy of limiting human rights leads only to the alienation of religious and ethnic groups, which, as a rule, are themselves interested in the fight against extremism, the UN Secretary-General noted.

"No country can defeat terrorism alone," said António Guterres, having reaffirmed the UN readiness to continue to support regional and national efforts of Central Asian countries in this area. At the same time, the UN Secretary-General added that,his initiative to reform the system of combating terrorism in order to create a new office for combating terrorism "will provide stronger leadership, strengthen coordination and coherence throughout the system, increase support for capacity-building, mobilize political will and reliable partnership in order to ensure a balanced implementation of the UN Global counter-terrorism strategy."

The Ministers of Central Asia have expressed concern about the threat of terrorism in the region, as well as their determination to implement the UN Global counter-terrorism strategy and the recommendations of the Secretary-General's action plan related to prevention of violent extremism through dialogue and efforts for prevention of conflicts, struggle against the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, involving of young people, improvement of their professional skills and provision of their employment, as well as prevention of the spread of terrorist ideas and the abuse of information technologies, the message says.

The global counter-terrorism strategy was adopted by the UN General Assembly through consensus in 2006. The Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) office was established to ensure system-wide coordination and coherence of the United Nations counter-terrorism activities. The office coordinates the membership of the CTITF, which is extended to 36 UN organizations, the World Customs Organization and Interpol. The United Nations counter-terrorism center (UNCCT) provides support to member states in capacity-building for the implementation of the United Nations Global counter-terrorism strategy. The center was established under the CTITF office in 2011.

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