President Serdar Berdimuhamedov has ushered in a new era of a powerful Turkmenistan, and the country is consistently pursuing a foreign policy based on neutrality, peacefulness, good neighborliness, mutual respect, and equal constructive partnerships.
Turkmenistan is actively contributing to the consolidation of efforts to find solutions to current issues, particularly in the context of multi-vector cooperation with the United Nations. This is reflected in the priority positions of Turkmenistan at the 78th session of the General Assembly of the UN, which include new initiatives to further strengthen and expand dialogue on key areas of global development.
The most important of these is the issue of ensuring peace and security. Turkmenistan supports the integrity, security, integrity and interconnectedness of its various aspects.
Our nation seeks to make the most of the potential of the UN, its political and diplomatic tools and its high authority in order to reach constructive solutions and ensure universal and comprehensive security, which is essential for the achievement of all the UN’s strategic objectives, including the Sustainable Development Goals.
Turkmenistan will adhere to the principles of neutrality, non-interference, and a firm commitment to peaceful, political means of resolving conflicts and contradictions when participating in the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly.
Our country is the author of important peacekeeping initiatives enshrined in UNGA resolutions, including the proclamation of 2023 as the International Year of Dialogue as a Guarantee of Peace. This initiative aims to bring together efforts to strengthen the traditions of peaceful and trusting coexistence of the peoples of the planet, working together through dialogue and cooperation to respond to global challenges, solving existing problems and building a better, conflict-free future for future generations.
At the regular session of the General Assembly opening in New York in September, Turkmenistan will propose the start of a discussion on the possibilities of developing a global security strategy based on the principles of the UN Charter and universally recognized norms of international law, taking into account current realities and trends in global development.
In order to achieve universal and comprehensive security, our country emphasizes the need to give the activities of the UN a pronounced regional context, which is intended to bring due specificity to improve its effectiveness.
In this regard, Turkmenistan takes the initiative to create a Security Conference format in Central Asia and adjacent zones under the auspices of the United Nations, expressing readiness to hold the first meeting in this format in Ashgabat in 2024.
Along with this, our country will take further steps to promote and develop the Zone of Peace, Trust and Cooperation in Central Asia, based on the initiative initiated by the Turkmen side in the relevant Resolution of the UN General Assembly of July 28, 2022.
In the context of consolidating efforts to counter modern challenges and threats, Turkmenistan notes the need to develop educational activities in the field of combating terrorism, including the introduction of relevant programs, development of curricula and materials, improvement of educational work, strengthening of intercultural dialogue and tolerance.
In this regard, our country will continue to interact with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) on the establishment of the UNOCT Program Office for Central Asia on the basis of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia.
Preserving and strengthening stability in the regional context is an integral part of ensuring universal and comprehensive security. In this regard, the priority positions of Turkmenistan include the relevance of such an issue to the international agenda as helping to achieve peace and harmony in Afghanistan, taking into account existing realities, including the provision of economic and humanitarian assistance to this country and the Afghan people.
In the light of modern realities, the significance of Turkmen neutrality and the demand for its potential are evident. One of the eloquent examples is the establishment of the Group of Friends of Neutrality for the sake of peace, security and sustainable development, formed at the initiative of our country on the basis of the UN and designed to become an open platform for constructive exchange of opinions on various issues of regional and global partnership.
Today, more than 20 states have joined the Group of Friends of Neutrality, including the co-authors of the Resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations “Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan” from 1995 and 2015, “International Day of Neutrality” and “The Role and Importance of a policy of neutrality in maintaining and strengthening international peace, security and sustainable development”, adopted in 2017 and 2020.
Regular meetings within the framework of this multilateral dialogue are designed to contribute to the development of a sustainable political and diplomatic mechanism for promoting the principles of neutralism in international relations, strengthening fruitful cooperation in the interests of general well-being.
In August 2020, the first meeting of the Group was held in New York at the ambassadorial level, at which the adherence to the principles enshrined in the UN Charter was reaffirmed. It should also be noted that on December 10, 2022, Ashgabat hosted the first Ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends of Neutrality. Its Final Declaration, fixing the format and methods of work of the Group, was published in March of this year as an official document of the 77th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations under the agenda item “Peace building and preservation of the world.”
In terms of further development of multilateral cooperation within the framework of this association, Turkmenistan will propose during the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly to organize in Ashgabat in December 2023 the next high-level meeting of the Group of Friends of Neutrality. Its goal is to hold the next International Conference on the aforementioned Group in the Turkmen capital in December 2024.
In this context, our country also intends to submit for consideration the possibility of establishing in Ashgabat the Institute of Neutrality and security, which could serve as a platform for scientific works and studies on neutrality and related issues.
For Neutral Turkmenistan, maintaining stability, strengthening a culture of peace and trust in international relations are key foreign policy vectors. By taking systematic practical steps in this direction, our country offers to actively use the mechanisms and potential of neutrality in the cause of unification efforts to achieve the SDGs, effectively countering global challenges.
At the same time, it should be noted that an important incentive motive for choosing neutrality as the foundation of the foreign policy of the Fatherland became a rich historical experience of the Turkmen people, whose mentality is always based on peacefulness, good neighborliness, respect, friendliness, openness.
The peculiarity of the neutrality of Turkmenistan lies in the fact that it is a living, creative process that is enriched with new ideas and practical developments, adapts to changing conditions, emerging challenges. This is the value that our country is ready to share with the world community.