OREANDA-NEWS.  January 20, 2012. In his message to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Lenni Montiel, who had completed his mission, thanked the leader of the Turkmen state for providing support and contribution to promoting cooperation in the name of development and improvement of the welfare of citizens of Turkmenistan.

Lenni Montiel wrote that he would remember the period of his work in Turkmenistan that was a short but very rich in important events for the signing of the new Framework programme of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the UN agencies accredited to the country developed for the period till 2015. Under this Programme the sides undertook the commitments to enhancing democracy and supremacy of law, promoting human development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, sustainable development and multifaceted growth and peace and security. Lenni Montiel noted with satisfaction that among many other critical issues put on the global agenda such issues as protection of human rights, including women, children and persons with disabilities were promoted through concerted efforts of Turkmenistan and the United Nations in the framework of the convention that Turkmenistan acceded to. The illustrative examples include the opening of the Information Centre for Human Rights under the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights in collaboration with the European Union, the UN Development Programme and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Lenni Montiel mentioned the National Early Childhood Development Programme developed with the assistance of the UN Children’s Fund, the status of the free-malaria state awarded by the World Health Organisation, Turkmenistan’s experience in granting citizenship of Turkmenistan to stateless persons in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the National Climate Change Strategy developed with the assistance of the UN Development Programme, the reform of criminal legislation with the assistance of the UN Children’s Fund and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the preparations for the population census with the assistance with the UN Population Fund, the UN Children’s Fund and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the constructive initiatives put forward at the sixty-sixth session of the UN General Assembly that Turkmenistan was going to implement with the assistance with the United Nations Organisation among the outstanding achievements of Turkmenistan-UN cooperation.

Summing up the aforesaid, Lenni Montiel noted that in Turkmenistan paid increasing attention to the sustainable development issues and welcomed Turkmenistan’s decision to participate in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June this year as evidence for the determination of the Government of Turkmenistan to effectively contribute to tackling modern challenges.