On Monday, 27 November, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov held telephone talks with John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. The conversation took place at the initiative of the US side.
The main topic of the conversation was preparation for the upcoming COP-28 Conference in Dubai, climate issues, in particular, cooperation between Turkmenistan and the United States in the field of reducing methane emissions into the atmosphere and the possibility of legal consolidation of cooperation in this area, TDH reports.
Turkmenistan considers climate change issues as one of the priority aspects of its foreign policy, President Berdimuhamedov noted.
In this regard, it was emphasized that Turkmenistan respects the position of the states of the world, including the United States, regarding the measures taken to consolidate the efforts of the international community on this issue, and the proposals put forward are positively evaluated by the Turkmen side.
In turn, John Kerry put forward a number of specific proposals on combating climate change with an emphasis on reducing methane emissions.
During the conversation, it was stated that global environmental challenges pose new challenges to the world community, primarily concerning the modernization of national plans and strategies, the inclusion of modern standards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, it is necessary to solve the issues of investments in renewable energy sources, the development of technologies for adaptation to climate change.
As noted, Turkmenistan actively participates in the implementation of international initiatives and agreements in this area. Thus, on 13 November this year, Turkmenistan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with UNEP, which was the first step towards the practical implementation of Turkmenistan’s initiative to establish a Regional center for technologies related to climate change.
During the COP-26 Conference, Turkmenistan supported the Global Methane Pledge initiative and is interested in its detailed study. In this regard, priority positions of Turkmenistan on this issue were announced.
At the end of the conversation, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and John Kerry spoke in favor of further constructive interstate cooperation. ///nCa, 28 November 2023