Priority Positions of Turkmenistan for the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Preamble

Turkmenistan regards 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, reaffirm the pivotal and coordinating role of the United Nations in preserving and strengthening universal peace, stability and security, and fully implement 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, and firm commitment to peaceful, political means of resolving conflicts and crisis situations.

Turkmenistan, constantly 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, activities will be continued on the implementation of the international initiatives of the President of Turkmenistan to address the tasks on both the regional and international agendas.

The focus of Turkmenistan’s efforts towards developing a coordinated multilateral approach, as well as the practical implementation of global strategies and programmes will be determined, in the 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 UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the UN Commission on Population and Development, the UN Commission on Social Development, the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development and other United Nations entities.

Consolidating the efforts of the international community in the fight against the pandemic

Turkmenistan will continue to support the coordinated efforts of the global community to combat the new type of coronavirus infection, the political and socio-economic consequences of its pandemic.

Emphasizing the importance of unity and solidarity of all UN Member States and the UN system organizations in the fight against a common threat, we consider it unacceptable to politicize the issues related to the spread of coronavirus.

Turkmenistan considers strengthening of the universal health system capacity for preparedness, collective resilience and response to emergencies based on the developed UN strategies and plans to counter coronavirus infection one of the main tasks in this area.

At the same time, the Turkmen side emphasizes that the World Health Organization (WHO) is the main platform for a multilateral dialogue on developing consolidated, mutually agreed responses to common challenges in the field of global healthcare.

We believe that the most effective way to minimize the negative economic consequences of the pandemic is to strengthen the work of the relevant United Nations entities in certain key areas of global economic recovery.

In this regard, we intend to intensify our efforts to strengthen the stability of international transport systems in emergencies, based on the provisions of the United Nations General Assembly resolution entitled “Strengthening the links between all modes of transport to ensure stable and reliable international transport for sustainable development during and after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic”, adopted on the initiative of Turkmenistan on 29 July 2021.

For these purposes, we consider it appropriate to draw special attention of the global community to strengthen the linkages between the global programmes to counteract the pandemic and the UN strategies in the field of emergency response, including in the health sector, such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework).

Turkmenistan will also continue to promote the previously announced initiatives aimed at actively promoting multilateral cooperation through scientific diplomacy, creating all the necessary conditions for systematic communication among medical scientists, experts and specialists in other related fields of knowledge in order to form a multilateral professional dialogue through a careful examination of the nature of the origin of a 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: a Special programme of the World Health Organization for researching of the coronavirus genome; a Multilateral mechanism of the World Health Organization for fighting pneumonia; a Methodological centre of the World Health Organization for treating and preventing acute infections; a Central Asian Regional Centre for Epidemiology, Virology and Bacteriology.

Turkmenistan counts on the support of the United Nations Member States and the UN specialized agencies in the implementation of the above-mentioned proposals.

Issues of international politics, peace and security

Assistance to the international community in maintaining and strengthening universal peace, security and strategic stability remains at the core of Turkmenistan’s activities in the United Nations.

Turkmenistan, guided by the norms and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, adopted fundamental Conventions and other international acts, continues to advocate for resolving international issues only through peaceful, political and diplomatic means and methods.

At the same time, Turkmenistan, relying in its foreign policy activities on the status of permanent neutrality, recognized by the United Nations General Assembly resolution of 12 December 1995 and confirmed by the resolution of 3 June 2015, will strive to develop mutually acceptable and balanced approaches to expanding multilateral cooperation for strengthening peace and security.

We plan to take a number of concrete steps for the further practical realization of the potential of neutrality as an effective tool of peacemaking and achieving constructive decisions based on consensus, as well as the implementation of the provisions of the UN General Assembly resolution entitled “The role and importance of a policy of neutrality in maintaining and strengthening international peace, security and sustainable development”, adopted on 7 December 2020 on the initiative of Turkmenistan.

In particular, during the 76th session, Turkmenistan intends to continue regular meetings of the Group of Friends of Neutrality for 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 dialog at the sides of the forthcoming session of the UN General Assembly.

The year 2021, declared by the UN General Assembly on the proposal of Turkmenistan as the International Year of Peace and Trust, is intended to unite additional efforts of the United Nations system to form traditions of peaceful and trustful coexistence of the peoples of the world.

During the upcoming session in December 2021, Turkmenistan plans to convene an International Conference «Peace and Trust Policy - Basis of International Security, Stability and Development» in Ashgabat, that will sum up the results of the global campaign initiated by the Turkmen side in order to strengthen the culture of peace and trust, eliminate the current lack of trust in international relations.

We invite the UN Member States and international organizations to take an active part in the work of this forum.

Major and imposing 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 relevance of broad international dialogue on key issues of global and regional security, the preservation and strengthening of international law and the UN Charter, and the confirmation of the leading role of main international institutions.

Turkmenistan believes, that the achievement of these goals as the most important part of global efforts to strengthen long-term stability, peace and trust should not be limited to a timeframe, but on the contrary, become a permanent topic of the UN strategic agenda, thereby ensuring the continuity of the substantive international dialogue that began this year in these areas.

In this context, Turkmenistan, based on the previously announced initiative to establish a dialogue on security and cooperation in the Central Asian region, proposes to establish on a regular basis an International Forum on Security, Peace and Development in Central Asia.

In addition, emphasizing the importance of Central Asia as an integral and most important part of modern global geopolitical and geoeconomic processes, as well as measuring the transformations taking place in the region with global agenda, Turkmenistan intends to initiate the submission by all Central Asian states of a draft General Assembly resolution on “Strengthening regional and international cooperation to ensure peace, stability and sustainable development in the Central Asian region”, based on the resolution 72/283 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 Central Asian States held on 6 August 2021 in Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan assigns a special role to preventive diplomacy in addressing the tasks of maintaining peace and security, countering new challenges and threats.

In this regard, Turkmenistan will continue to provide maximum assistance to the work of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia with headquarters in Ashgabat, based on the resolutions of the UN General Assembly on the role of this Centre, adopted upon the initiative of the Turkmen side in 2017 and 2021.

 

 

In particular, we intend to further promote such dialogue platforms initiated by the Regional Centre as the Preventive Diplomacy Academy for Youth and the Central Asian Women Dialogue, which are aimed at implementing the relevant UN Security Council resolutions on “Women, peace and security” and “Youth, peace and security”.

At the same time, realizing the interconnectedness and inseparability of the issues of maintaining international peace, security and sustainable development in Central Asia and the Caspian basin region, Turkmenistan will take the initiative to create a Zone of Peace, Trust and Cooperation “Central Asia – the 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 the support for this initiative during the upcoming Sixth Caspian Summit, scheduled to be held in Turkmenistan in 2021.

Terrorism, extremism, cross-border organized crime, illegal trafficking in drugs and weapons, and human trafficking continue to be serious challenges and threats to international security.

During the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, Turkmenistan, based on the provisions of the Ashgabat Declaration of 2011 and the Joint Action Plan for Countering Terrorism in Central Asia, will continue to pay special attention to the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy at the regional level.

Following the goals laid down in the above-mentioned documents, Turkmenistan, together with the UN Counter-Terrorism Office, is currently working to determine the format and modality of the Ashgabat Programme Office of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT). The main objectives of the office will encompass providing expert and training support with an emphasis on law enforcement and preventive components in the fight against terrorism in the region, creating a system of information exchange on the most important aspects of joint activities in this area 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 establishing this counter-terrorism entity and its future work.

Turkmenistan, supporting the pivotal role of the United Nations in consolidating international efforts to combat transnational organized crime, supports 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 advocate for stepping up the process of developing a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes, which has already begun under the auspices of the United Nations.

In addition, we once again emphasize the expediency of organizing a Global Forum on Information Security and Cooperation as a regular multilateral dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations for a broad international discussion of global challenges related to the use of global 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 the consistent strengthening of the multilateral non-proliferation and disarmament regime, assigning an instrumental role to the United Nations and its multilateral disarmament mechanism.

Considering the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as an essential instrument of international law in the field of ensuring international security, Turkmenistan sees the prevention of further corrosion of the international legal system of arms control and the non-proliferation regime as the main task of the upcoming 10th Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT in 2022.

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 developments in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan urges the international community to continue promoting the processes of peaceful settlement of the situation in this country.

In this context, we consider it appropriate to step up the activities of specialized United Nations entities designed to provide comprehensive assistance to Afghanistan.

In this regard, we emphasize the role of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and underline the need to improve the activities of this Mission, taking into account the current realities in Afghanistan and the development of the military-political situation in this country in the near future.

In addition, 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 - immediate neighbours of this state in addressing issues of Afghanistan.

In particular, we see the implementation of this initiative through the prism of the practical implementation of the Kabul Declaration on Good-Neighbourly Relations, supported by the United Nations Security Council resolution of 24 December 2002.

Sustainable development

Turkmenistan regards energy, industry, transport and trade as the strategic areas of the United Nations’ activities in the economic sphere, which are key to ensuring enabling international conditions in the post-crisis period of global economic recovery and are able to provide the necessary incentives for expanding economic and trade cooperation and the growth of world industrial production.

Turkmenistan will continue to promote the issue of ensuring adequate funding in the implementation of Global Programmes and Strategies, the central of which is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In this regard, in order to accelerate the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development and the mobilization of resources to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we always 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 forum on sustainable development to review the progress in 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 it will begin its work on the second Voluntary National Review on the Progress in Implementation of the Global Goals for its subsequent submission in 2023.

 

 

During the upcoming session of the General Assembly, Turkmenistan will attach special emphasis to the issues of ensuring universal access to reliable, stable, financially efficient and modern energy sources (Sustainable Development Goal No 7).

The resolutions of the UN General Assembly on the reliability and stability of energy supplies to world markets, adopted upon the initiative of Turkmenistan in 2008 and 2013, were intended to become the basis for this.

In order to continue the multilateral dialogue in this direction, we propose to organize together with the Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Initiative an International Forum to accelerate progress in achieving SDG-7 in 2022, paying special attention to the issues of sustainable transit of energy resources and the creation of modern relevant UN international legal instruments.

Turkmenistan, being the initiator of the adoption of a series of General Assembly resolutions on the issues of sustainable transport, will continue its 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 on the development of a Special Interregional UN Programme for the Development of Transport, put forward previously by Turkmenistan.

We believe that the main goals and objectives of such a programme are formulated in the resolutions of the General Assembly adopted in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2021 on the development of international partnership in the transport sector; the final document of the first Global Conference on Sustainable Transport in 2016; and other multilateral documents on strengthening transport connectivity at the global level. At this stage, it is necessary to focus on the format, working methods and other modalities of the future programme.

We urge all States and specialized agencies of the UN system to take a constructive and effective part in the development of a Special Interregional UN Programme for the Development of Transport.

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 United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, intends to organize the Ministerial Transport Conference for Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) in Turkmenistan in April 2022.

In the economic field, we advocate for closer cooperation of the United Nations with regional and sub-regional organizations based on the principles laid down in the UN Charter.

In this regard, we welcome the mechanism of the biannual resolutions of the UN General Assembly on the cooperation of the world organization with certain regional structures.

In this context, Turkmenistan, acting as the Chair of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), initiated the discussion on the draft resolution of the General Assembly “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization” in 2021. During our chairmanship in the ECO, we intend to significantly advance the interaction of the organization’s member countries with the UN entities to implement 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 stepping up the multilateral dialogue on climate change, environmental protection, ensuring environmental safety, and water resources management.

In this regard, during the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, scheduled to be held in Glasgow on November 1-12 this year, Turkmenistan intends to come up with several specific initiatives aimed at consolidating the efforts of the international community in the issues of adaptation and mitigation of the consequences of climate change.

We intend to take a number of practical steps to implement the initiative of the President of Turkmenistan on the development of a UN Strategy aimed at implementing measures for the development of low-carbon energy, as well as the creation of an international Roadmap 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 Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the main partners in the implementation of the above-mentioned initiatives.

In this context, we advocate increasing the role and effectiveness of the activities of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as a key universal platform for defining and implementing the agenda of global cooperation in the environmental sphere.

We continue to pay special attention to the issues of minimizing the consequences of the environmental disaster 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 Summit on Sustainable Development on the creation of a Special UN Programme for the Aral Sea basin.

At the same time, we note that the adoption of the General Assembly resolutions on cooperation between the United Nations and the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) on 12 April 2018 and 28 May 2019 can serve as an international legal basis for working on this Special Programme.

International humanitarian cooperation

Based on the fundamental Conventions and other multilateral international documents of the United Nations in the field of human rights, Turkmenistan expresses its readiness for further practical activities to develop multilateral humanitarian cooperation.

With this view, within the framework of the 76th session, we will focus our efforts on cooperation with the United Nations specialized entities on the implementation of national, regional and global strategies, programmes and action plans for ensuring human rights and freedoms adopted on the basis of international legal documents of the United Nations.

Turkmenistan, as a member of the UN Commission for Social Development for 2021-2025, intends to enhance the role of this commission as the main coordinating body engaged in developing concerted 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 confident that the main principle of the work of the UN system as a whole in the field of the promotion and protection of human rights is equal interstate dialog 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 certain countries and regions of the world, 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 human dimension structures of the UN system, we attach special importance to the development of cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

To this end, Turkmenistan, being a member of the Executive Board of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the International Committee on Physical Education and Sports of UNESCO, as well as promoting its candidacy to the Intergovernmental Council of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme for the period 2021-2025, intends to expand its participation in the activities of the UNESCO specialized bodies.

Final provisions

The Priority positions of Turkmenistan at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the international initiatives and proposals put forward, determine the approaches of our country to active cooperation with all Member States of the Organization, UN bodies, entities, agencies and institutions.

Turkmenistan will continue to make efforts to strengthen the central and coordinating role of the United Nations, which is the sole universal platform for developing compromise solutions based on an equal dialogue, and calls upon all partners to work together effectively in the name of upholding the high ideals of peace and justice, implementing global goals and objectives.