World Bicycle Day celebration at the UNHQ

On June 2, 2023, the World Bicycle Day celebration was held at the UN headquarters.

The event was organized by the Permanent Mission of Turkmenistan to the UN, in collaboration with the Permanent Missions of Bahrain, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Poland, and Romania.

The event was attended by the President of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Ms. Melissa Fleming, Chairman of the UN Staff Union in New York Mr. Aitor Arauz, Permanent Representatives of Member States to the UN and staff of the UN Secretariat.

The Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the UN Mrs. A.Ataeva in her opening remarks thanked the participants of the event and noted that as the initiator of the UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/72/272 of April 12, 2018 “World Bicycle Day” Turkmenistan, highly appreciates the efforts of governments, organizations and individuals who advocate the promotion of cycling.

Ambassador Atayeva noted that the recent decision of the UNESCO Executive Board clearly underscores the essential role that bicycles play in advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in areas of health, education, gender equality, and environmental conservation.

Speaking at the event, the President of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Ms. Melissa Fleming and the Chairman of the UN Staff Union in New York Mr. Aitor Arauz called on Member States to pay attention to cycling not only as a means of improving physical and mental health and well-being, but also to form a culture of cycling in society. That is, to improve road safety, in particular, to implement policies and measures to protect and improve the safety of pedestrians and cycling, as well as to include cycling topics in international, regional, national and subnational development programs in accordance with the UNGA resolution A/RES/76/255 "Integration of mainstream bicycling into public transportation systems for sustainable development", adopted on the initiative of Turkmenistan, on 2022.

They also noted that the policy of popularization of bicycles in the world has recently been intensified. Bicycle paths and the corresponding infrastructure are now available, such as bike racks are being set up, a bicycle rental system, etc. Such a policy helps to relieve the city centers of cars, improve the environmental situation.

At the end of the official ceremony, a bike ride took place.