Preamble
Turkmenistan considers the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly as an important stage in the consistent consolidation of international efforts to address key issues on the global agenda, asserting the central and coordinating role of the UN in preserving and strengthening global peace, stability and security, fully implementing the declared Sustainable Development Goals.
In its activities during the upcoming session of the General Assembly, Turkmenistan will be guided by strict adherence to the principles of neutrality, non-interference, firm commitment to peaceful, political means of resolving conflicts and contradictions.
Turkmenistan, invariably remaining committed to the universal norms of international law, primarily the Charter of the United Nations, will take a number of concrete practical steps aimed at strengthening multilateralism in interstate relations and the global economy.
In this regard, work will continue on the implementation of international initiatives of the President of Turkmenistan to address the tasks on the regional and international agendas.
The focus of Turkmenistan’s activities on the development of agreed multilateral approaches, as well as the practical implementation of global strategies and programs will be determined, in relevant areas, by the country’s membership in the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Trade and Development Council of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) , The Executive Committee of the Program of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the United Nations Commission on Population and Development, the United Nations Commission on Social Development, the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development and other United Nations entities, as well as several other specialized UN bodies.
Consolidation of efforts of the international community in the fight against the pandemic
Turkmenistan will continue to support the coordinated efforts of the world community to combat a new type of coronavirus infection, political and socio-economic consequences of its spread.
Emphasizing the importance of the cohesion and solidarity of all member states and organizations of the UN system in the fight against a common threat, we consider it unacceptable to politicize the problem of the spread of coronavirus.
Turkmenistan considers one of the main tasks in this area to strengthen the global capacity for preparedness, collective resilience and response to health emergencies based on the developed UN strategies and plans to counter coronavirus infection.
At the same time, the Turkmen side emphasizes that the World Health Organization (WHO) is the main platform for multilateral dialogue to develop consolidated, mutually agreed responses to common challenges in the field of global health.
We believe that the most effective way to minimize the negative economic consequences of the pandemic is to strengthen the work of the specialized structures of the United Nations in certain key areas of the global economic recovery.
In this regard, we intend to intensify our efforts to strengthen the resilience of international transport systems in emergency situations, based on the provisions of the UN General Assembly Resolution “Strengthening links between all modes of transport to ensure stable and reliable international transport for sustainable development during and after the coronavirus pandemic. (COVID-19) “, adopted on the initiative of Turkmenistan on July 29, 2021.
To this end, we consider it expedient to pay special attention by the international community on strengthening the interconnectedness of global programs to counter the pandemic and UN strategies in the field of response to emergencies, including in the field of health, such as the Sendai Framework for Action for 2015–2030.
Turkmenistan will also continue to promote previously expressed initiatives aimed at enhancing multilateral cooperation through scientific diplomacy, creating all the necessary conditions for systemic communication of medical scientists, experts and specialists in other related fields of knowledge in order to form a multilateral professional dialogue aimed at a thorough study of the nature of origin of the new type of coronavirus, forms of manifestation of diseases caused by this infection, as well as methods of their treatment and prevention.
In particular, during the 76th session of the General Assembly, we intend to promote proposals for the establishment of the following international and regional instruments: the Special Program of the World Health Organization for the Study of the Coronavirus Genome; The World Health Organization’s Multilateral Pneumonia Control Mechanism; Methodological Center of the World Health Organization for the Treatment and Prevention of Acute Infections; Central Asian Regional Center for Epidemiology, Virology and Bacteriology.
Turkmenistan counts on the support of the member countries of the United Nations and the specialized agencies of the UN system in the implementation of the above proposals.
International Politics, Peace and Security Issues
Assisting the international community in maintaining and strengthening global peace, security and strategic stability remains the core line of Turkmenistan’s activities in the United Nations.
Turkmenistan, guided by the norms and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, adopted by the fundamental conventions and other international acts, continues to advocate for the solution of international issues only by peaceful, political and diplomatic means and methods.
At the same time, Turkmenistan, relying in its foreign policy on the status of permanent neutrality of Turkmenistan, recognized by the Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly of 12 December 1995 and confirmed by the Resolution of the UN General Assembly of 3 June 2015, will strive to develop mutually acceptable and balanced approaches to expanding multilateralism and interaction on the issues of strengthening peace and security.
We plan to take a number of concrete practical steps in order to further practical implementation of the potential of neutrality as an effective instrument of peacemaking and to achieve constructive consensus decisions, as well as the implementation of the provisions of the UN General Assembly Resolution “The role and significance of the policy of neutrality in maintaining and strengthening international peace, security and the process of sustainable development” adopted on the initiative of Turkmenistan on December 7, 2020.
In particular, during the 76th session, Turkmenistan intends to continue regular meetings of the Group of Friends of Neutrality in the name of peace, security and sustainable development.
We invite the states of the Community of Nations to take part in the work of this new format of political interaction within the walls of the UN during the upcoming session of the General Assembly.
The year 2021, declared by the UN General Assembly at the proposal of Turkmenistan as the International Year of Peace and Trust, is intended to unite additional efforts on the part of the United Nations system to form traditions of peaceful and trusting coexistence of the peoples of the world.
During the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly in December 2021, summing up the results of the global campaign initiated by the Turkmen side in order to strengthen the culture of peace and trust, to eliminate the deficit of trust in international relations that has arisen at the present stage, Turkmenistan plans to convene in Ashgabat the International Conference “Politics of Peace and Trust – the basis of international security, stability and development.”
We invite UN member states and international organizations to take an active part in the work of this forum.
Large and representative events within the framework of the International Year of Peace and Trust, held in Turkmenistan and some other countries, clearly demonstrate the need and objective demand for broad international communication on topical issues of global and regional security, the preservation and strengthening of international law and the UN Charter, confirmation of the leading the role of supporting international institutions.
Achievement of these goals as the most important part of global efforts to strengthen long-term stability, peace and trust, in the opinion of Turkmenistan, should not be limited by time frames, but, on the contrary, should become a permanent topic of the UN strategic agenda, thereby ensuring the continuity of the substantive international dialogue that began this year on the indicated directions.
In this context, Turkmenistan, based on the earlier expressed initiative to create a dialogue on security and cooperation in the Central Asian region, proposes to establish an International Forum on Security, Peace and Development in Central Asia operating on a regular basis.
In addition, emphasizing the importance of Central Asia as an integral and most important part of modern global geopolitical and geo-economic processes, as well as in order to compare the transformations taking place in the region with the global agenda, during the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, Turkmenistan intends to initiate the submission by all Central Asian states the draft Resolution of the General Assembly “Strengthening regional and international cooperation in order to ensure peace, stability and sustainable development in the Central Asian region”, based on the resolution of the same name adopted in 2018.
We believe that the consideration and adoption of this document will contribute to the practical implementation of the international initiatives of the Central Asian countries, reflected in the final document of the Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia, held on August 6, 2021 in Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan assigns a special role in solving problems of maintaining peace and security, countering new challenges and threats to preventive diplomacy.
In this regard, Turkmenistan will continue to provide maximum assistance to the work of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia with headquarters in Ashgabat, based on the UN General Assembly resolutions on the role of this center, adopted at the initiative of the Turkmen side in 2017 and 2021.
In particular, we intend to further promote such dialogue platforms initiated by the Regional Center as the Academy of Preventive Diplomacy for Youth and the Women’s Dialogue of Central Asian Countries, which are aimed at implementing the relevant UN Security Council resolutions “Women, Peace and Security” and “Youth, Peace and security”.
At the same time, realizing the interconnectedness and indivisibility of issues of maintaining international peace, security and sustainable development in Central Asia and the Caspian region, Turkmenistan will come up with an initiative to create a zone of peace, trust and cooperation “Central Asia – Caspian region”. We regard this model as a platform for promoting initiatives aimed at strengthening multilateral cooperation in the interests of global peace and development.
We intend to consolidate this initiative during the upcoming Sixth Caspian Summit, scheduled to be held in 2021 in Turkmenistan.
Terrorism, extremism, cross-border organized crime, drug and arms trafficking, and human trafficking continue to be serious challenges and threats to international security.
During the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, Turkmenistan will continue to pay special attention to the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy at the regional level, based on the provisions of the Ashgabat Declaration of 2011 and the Joint Action Plan to Counter Terrorism in Central Asia.
Following the goals set out in the above documents, Turkmenistan, together with the UN Counter-Terrorism Office, is currently working to determine the format and modality of the new Program Office of the Counter-Terrorism Office in Ashgabat, the main tasks of which will be to provide expert and training support with an emphasis on law enforcement and preventive components in the fight terrorism in the region, the creation of a system for the exchange of information on the most important aspects of joint activities in this direction between the countries of Central Asia.
We count on the support of the countries of the region and the international community in the process of creating and further work of this counter-terrorism structure.
Turkmenistan, supporting the central role of the UN in consolidating international efforts to combat transnational organized crime, advocates the development of new international legal instruments to counter emerging threats, in particular, cybercrime and related challenges to international information security.
In this regard, we are in favor of stepping up the already begun process of developing an international convention under the auspices of the United Nations on countering the use of information and communication technologies for criminal purposes.
In addition, we once again emphasize the expediency of organizing the Global Forum on Information Security and Cooperation as a regular multilateral dialogue under the auspices of the UN for the purpose of broad international discussion of global challenges associated with the use of world information networks, as well as the prospects for using information technologies to strengthen regional and international stability.
During the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly, Turkmenistan will continue to advocate for the consistent strengthening of the multilateral non-proliferation and disarmament regime, assigning a central role in this direction to the United Nations Organization and its multilateral disarmament mechanism.
Considering the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as a fundamental instrument of international law in the field of international security, Turkmenistan sees the main task of the upcoming 10th NPT Review Conference in 2022 to prevent further corrosion of the international legal system of arms control and the non-proliferation regime.
We also consider the practice of holding international conferences on zones free of weapons of mass destruction in various regions of the world as an effective mechanism for consolidating efforts to ensure regional stability and sustainability.
Regarding the development of the situation in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan calls on the international community to continue to facilitate the processes of peaceful settlement of the situation in this country.
In this context, we consider it expedient to intensify the activities of the specialized structures of the United Nations, designed to provide comprehensive assistance to Afghanistan.
In this regard, we emphasize the role of UNAMA and note the need to improve the activities of this Mission, taking into account the realities of modern Afghanistan and the development of the military-political situation in this country in the near future.
Also, during the 76th session of the General Assembly, we propose to consider the possibility of creating new international mechanisms to support Afghanistan based on the positive experience of the countries – direct neighbors of this state in resolving issues of the Afghan problem.
In particular, we see the implementation of this initiative through the prism of the practical implementation of the Kabul Declaration on Good Neighborliness, supported by the UN Security Council resolution of December 24, 2002.
Sustainable development
Turkmenistan considers energy, industry, transport and trade as the strategic directions of the United Nations in the economic sphere, which are key to ensuring favorable international conditions in the post-crisis period of the global economic recovery and can provide the necessary incentives for expanding economic and trade cooperation, growth of world industrial production.
Turkmenistan will continue to promote the issue of ensuring adequate funding in the implementation of Global Programs and Strategies, the main of which is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In this regard, in order to accelerate the implementation of the decisions of the Addis Ababa Action Program on financing for development and mobilizing resources to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we invariably emphasize the expediency of organizing the next International Conference on Financing for Development.
We support the further strengthening of the coordinating role of the UN General Assembly and the UN Economic and Social Council, as well as the mechanism of regular high-level political forums on sustainable development in reviewing the progress of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
In this regard, Turkmenistan will continue to support the designated multilateral instruments for monitoring the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and, during the 76th session of the General Assembly, will begin work on the second Voluntary National Review on the implementation of the global goals for its subsequent submission in 2023.
During the upcoming session of the General Assembly, Turkmenistan will give special emphasis to the issues of ensuring universal access to reliable, stable, financially efficient and modern energy sources (Goal 7 of sustainable development).
The basis for this is intended to be the UN General Assembly resolutions on the reliability and stability of the supply of energy resources to world markets, adopted at the initiative of Turkmenistan in 2008 and 2013.
In order to continue the multilateral dialogue in this direction, we propose to organize in 2022, together with the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, an International Forum to Accelerate Progress in achieving SDG-7 UN toolkit.
Turkmenistan, being the initiator of the adoption of a series of resolutions of the General Assembly on sustainable transport, will continue efforts to formalize this area of multilateral cooperation as a separate segment of the activities of the United Nations.
In this regard, we propose to return to the proposal put forward by Turkmenistan earlier on the development of a UN Special Interregional Program for the Development of Transport.
We believe that the main goals and objectives of such a program are clearly formulated in the resolutions of the General Assembly adopted in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2021 on the development of international partnerships in the transport sector, the final document of the first Global Conference on Sustainable Transport in 2016, and other multilateral documents on strengthening transport interconnectedness at the global level. At this stage, it is necessary to focus on the format, methods of operation and other modalities of the future program.
We call on all states and specialized agencies of the UN system to take a constructive and effective participation in the development of the UN Special Interregional Program for Transport Development.
Continuing to contribute to maintaining a broad dialogue at the global level on the development of international transport systems, the Turkmen side, together with the Office of the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, plans in April 2022 to organize in Turkmenistan the International Conference of Ministers of Landlocked Developing Countries.
On the economic track, we stand for closer cooperation of the United Nations with regional and subregional organizations based on the principles laid down in the UN Charter.
In this regard, we welcome the mechanism of biennial resolutions of the UN General Assembly on cooperation between the World Organization and individual regional structures.
In this context, Turkmenistan, acting as chairman of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), initiated in 2021 discussion of the draft General Assembly Resolution “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization”. We intend, during our chairmanship of the ECO, to significantly advance the interaction of the member countries of the organization with the agencies of the UN system in order to fulfill the provisions of the above-mentioned resolution and achieve the universal goals of sustainable peace and development.
The 76th session of the UN General Assembly is of particular importance for enhancing multilateral dialogue on climate change, environmental protection, environmental security, and water resources management.
In this regard, during the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, scheduled to be held on November 1-12 this year in Glasgow, Turkmenistan intends to come up with a number of specific initiatives aimed at consolidating the efforts of the international community in adaptation and mitigation of climate change.
We intend to take a number of practical steps to implement the initiative of the President of Turkmenistan to develop a UN Strategy aimed at implementing measures to develop low-carbon energy, as well as to create an international “Road Map” for the development of hydrogen as one of the priority areas in the energy sector under the auspices of the UN.
We see the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as the main partners in the implementation of the above initiatives.
In this context, we are in favor of enhancing the role and effectiveness of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) as a key universal platform for defining and implementing the agenda of global cooperation in the environmental field.
We continue to pay special attention to the issues of minimizing the consequences of the ecological catastrophe of the Aral Sea.
During the upcoming session of the General Assembly, Turkmenistan will continue to implement the initiative put forward by the President of Turkmenistan at the Rio + 20 Sustainable Development Summit to create a UN Special Program for the Aral Sea Basin.
At the same time, we note that the adoption on April 12, 2018 and May 28, 2019 of the General Assembly Resolutions “On cooperation between the United Nations and the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS)” can act as an international legal basis for work on the specified Special Program.
International humanitarian cooperation
Based on the fundamental conventions and other multilateral international documents of the UN in the human rights sphere, Turkmenistan expresses its readiness for further practical activities to develop multilateral humanitarian cooperation.
In this context, within the framework of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, we will focus our efforts on interaction with specialized structures of the United Nations for the implementation of national, regional and global strategies, programs and action plans to ensure human rights and freedoms, adopted on the basis of international legal documents of the United Nations Organization.
Turkmenistan, as a member of the UN Commission for Social Development for 2021-2025, intends to strengthen the role of this commission as the main coordinating body of the World Organization engaged in the development of coordinated approaches and actions on global issues of social protection, youth affairs, strengthening the role of the traditional family and other areas.
At the same time, we are convinced that the basic principle of the work of the entire UN system in the field of the promotion and protection of human rights is equal interstate interaction based on the existing mechanisms of international law and respect for state sovereignty and sovereign equality of states.
In the context of the emergence of migration crises in individual countries and regions of the planet, we consider it necessary to intensify the efforts of UN specialized agencies in this area, in particular, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Among the humanitarian structures of the UN system, we attach particular importance to the development of cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In this regard, Turkmenistan intends to expand its participation in the work of specialized structures of UNESCO, being a member of the Executive Board of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and the International Committee for Physical Education and Sport of UNESCO, as well as promoting its candidacy to the Intergovernmental Council of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Program of UNESCO for the period 2021-2025.
Final provisions
The priority positions of Turkmenistan at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, and the international initiatives and proposals put forward determine the approaches of our country to active interaction with all member states of the Organization, bodies, institutions, agencies and institutions of the UN.
Turkmenistan will continue to make efforts to strengthen the central and coordinating role of the United Nations, which is the only universal platform for developing compromise solutions based on an equal dialogue, and calls on all partners to jointly effectively work in the name of affirming the high ideals of peace and justice, the implementation of global goals and objectives. /// nCa, 31 August 2021 (Cross post from TDH, 29 Aug)