OREANDA-NEWS. September 26, 2011. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who is on a visit to New York to participate in the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, had a meeting United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Cordially greeting the Turkmen leader, the UN Secretary-General expressed gratitude to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov for the participation in the global forum and the active position of neutral Turkmenistan on cooperation with the United Nations. Highly evaluating the policy of the Turkmen state that had the firm reputation of being a peace-maker, Mr. Ban Ki-moon emphasized that the United Nations sought to strengthen and expand bilateral partnerships meeting the goals of global peace and wellbeing.
Thanking the UN Secretary-General for the hearty welcome, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov reaffirmed that Turkmenistan was committed to promoting the constructive dialogue with the United Nations and stood ready to further intensify fruitful collaboration in all spheres. This was evidenced by new initiatives put forward by the Turkmen state to contribute to elaborating balanced approaches to urgent issues put on the agenda of regional and global development

A substantial exchange of views on the current state and prospects of bilateral cooperation which had the profound positive experience of partnerships and a number of joint projects completed or being implemented in various areas in its assets took place during the meeting. In this context the Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and the United Nations Secretary-General focused with satisfaction on the consistent, fruitful character of collaboration between Turkmenistan and the major specialized structures and agencies of the United Nations as well as the mutual willingness to foster traditional contacts.

Ban Ki-moon noted that the United Nations viewed Turkmenistan as a dependable and responsible partner taking an initiative, balanced approach to addressing urgent problems and challenges of the modern world. Generating the constructive proposals for strengthening the foundations of global peace and sustainable development and achieving global energy security and environmental wellbeing on the planet, the Turkmen state took consistent specific steps to implement them. The illustrative examples of this include the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (RCCA) opened in Ashgabat on the initiative of the Turkmen side. In this context the UN Secretary-General thanked the President of Turkmenistan for taking efforts to promote the initiative on disarmament in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea Basin as well as supporting the idea to host the international ministerial meeting in November this year in the framework of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia.

During the meeting the UN Secretary-General made a special emphasis on the significant contribution Turkmenistan made to revive socio-economic infrastructure in neighbouring Afghanistan that in its turn had a favourable impact on the situation in the region. In this context Mr. Ban Ki-moon expressed gratitude to the Turkmen leader for creating the favorable conditions in Ashgabat for conducting the meeting of the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA). Such issues as assistance in Afghanistan’s sustainable development and intensification of regional economic cooperation were put on the agenda of the forum organized by the Government of Turkmenistan, which presides over the SPECA, in collaboration with a number of the UN major bodies, including UNECE, ESCAP and UNRCCA.

Touching upon the upcoming presidential elections, UN Secretary-General said that this important political action would be held in an atmosphere of democracy and transparency and emphasized this confidence was grounded on the success of the ongoing reforms in Turkmenistan. The United Nations would provide Turkmenistan with necessary assistance and support, said Mr. Ban Ki-moon.

Thanking for highly evaluating the ongoing fundamental reforms in Turkmenistan and emphasizing that independent neutral Turkmenistan as a full member of the United Nations stood steadfast to the obligations undertaken to the Commonwealth of Nations, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stated that our country would further move forward along the chosen path seeking to effectively contribute to concerting global efforts to strengthen peace and security and search for optimal solutions to challenges and problems on regional and global scale. In this context the President of Turkmenistan thanked the UN Secretary-General for the high evaluation of fruitful cooperation between Turkmenistan and the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia with the Ashgabat-based Headquarters he had given in the Annual Report.

Dwelling upon such a priority aspect of global challenges as energy security serving as an essential factor for progressive development on a global scale, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that Turkmenistan intended to address this issue through implementing specific energy projects. In particular, currently our country works in collaboration with foreign partners toward the implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project aiming to significantly contribute to sustainable social and economic development of the Asian region. Turkmenistan that has the tremendous potential in this sphere is committed to diversifying transit of energy to world markets and intends to launch similar projects in our regions, including Europe, said the Turkmen leader.

Noting that the main goals and objectives of the domestic and foreign policies of the Turkmen state were consistent with the major goals and objectives of the United Nations, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov reaffirmed once again that the Turkmen side was committed to promoting fruitful cooperation in enhancement of the imperishable humanistic and constructive ideals of mankind underlying the activity of the United Nations.

Mr. Ban Ki-moon emphasized that the obvious achievements Turkmenistan had gained on the path of the fundamental socio-economic and democratic reforms would create reliable guarantees of further progressive development of the state and society and open up new opportunities to expand traditional partnerships.

Taking an opportunity, the UN Secretary-General cordially congratulated President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and the Turkmen people on the 20th anniversary of independence and expressed the best wishes.

Upon concluding the meeting, the President of Turkmenistan and the UN Secretary-General expressed belief that effective cooperation based on equality, mutual respect and confidence would be successfully furthered.