OREANDA-NEWS. September 12, 2008. The international conference Basic Trends in Development of International Law opened in the conference hall of the Ministry of Justice of Turkmenistan. The forum is organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Turkmen National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights under President of Turkmenistan and the German Society for Technical Co-operation (GTZ).

The cabinet ministers, the deputies of the Mejlis, the representatives of the public organisations – members of the Galkynysh National Movement, the high-ranking officials of the national ministries and departments, the diplomats accredited to Turkmenistan, journalists and students took part in the opening ceremony. Minister of Foreign Affairs R. Meredov presented the welcoming statement of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the ceremony.

Addressing the forum the Turkmen leader said that from the first days of independence the guidelines of Turkmenistan’s home and foreign policies were peace, stability and development as well as respect to the fundamental democratic rights and freedoms secured in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that as a full member of the world community Turkmenistan had ratified the UN conventions that laid the foundation for development of the national legislation.

The leading foreign experts and their Turkmen colleagues presented the thematic reports on the aspects of international law and jurisprudence. The guests were Professor of the University of Bremen Rolf Kniper, UN Development Programme international consultant Daniyar Ibragimov, GTZ Legal Consultant and Project Manager Lorance Fara and others.

Those speaking at the conference noted that the issues related to the international relations were of paramount practical value for any state. Development of the equal relations built on the universally recognized legal and juridical norms meeting the national interests were the groundwork of mutual understanding and successful international co-operation.

The conference participants noted that in Turkmenistan for the first time the nature of the interrelations between the international and national laws had been determined constitutionally that was set forth in Article 6. The phased process of reforming in the current legislation in compliance with the international law norms had been started on the initiative of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. The Turkmen specialists in collaboration with the foreign colleagues had designed the proposals on further reforms of the civil and procedural law and civil judicial system so that they would respond to the modern requirements under the conditions of market economy.

Commenting on the first day of the conference Professor Rolf Kniper who had contributed to drafting the Civil Code of Turkmenistan focused on the practical importance of the forum. The guest said that the meeting in Ashgabat was of particular significance for development of international law as a crucial factor of global security and stability. The Professor noted that Turkmenistan’s transparency and adherence to wide international co-operation with all partner countries, the endeavours to integrate into the global economic environment had stimulated the partner countries and international organisations to the reciprocal actions. Therefore, Turkmenistan’s participation in the international legal conventions was important. Professor Rolf Kniper said that President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s innovative initiatives to establish effective collaboration in this field that was vividly illustrated by the forum in Ashgabat were of particular interest.