At the outset, I have the honour to convey the greetings and wishes of peace and prosperity to the peoples of all countries from the President of Turkmenistan, His Excellency Mr. Serdar Berdimuhamedov.
I congratulate His Excellency Mr. Csaba Korosi on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session, and wish him success in that important and responsible post.
I express my gratitude to His Excellency Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the Assembly at its seventy-sixth session, for his effective work in this position.
Turkmenistan sees the current session of the General Assembly from the point of view of the need to urgently leverage the potential of the world community and the United Nations constructive influence on global processes, the search for channels of dialogue as the only acceptable way to resolve conflicts and contradictions, lay down the foundations for developing responsible joint approaches to the problems of postpandemic development, and restore economic and humanitarian ties.
For Turkmenistan, the new political year marks an important date — the thirtieth anniversary of its membership of the United Nations. Based on the solid foundation of engagement with this world Organization that we built over the years, and reaffirming our commitment to a strategic partnership with the United Nations and our conviction that there is no alternative to the only world structure with universal legitimacy, Turkmenistan will pursue its efforts to enhance and strengthen its role in the world and reaffirm internationally recognized legal norms and the Charter of the United Nations as the political and ideological bases of intergovernmental relations.
The global security architecture created within the framework of our Organization is now being seriously tested. We are witnessing complex processes that hinder multilateral cooperation, including in such important areas as security and stability. In order to overcome the current difficulties in international relations, Turkmenistan considers it necessary to strengthen existing platforms for dialogue and to consider establishing new ones for intergovernmental contact and negotiations on pressing issues on the global agenda.
Restoring trust and a culture of respectful dialogue is gaining universal significance as one of the key conditions for a responsible, non-confrontational approach, seeking opportunities for mutual understanding and maintaining a balance of interests when considering problematic issues. In order to further promote the philosophy of trust-based dialogue in international relations, Turkmenistan intends to propose a draft resolution on dialogue as a guarantor of peace for the General Assembly’s consideration. We are convinced that the adoption of such a document would confirm the principled and unequivocal commitment of all United Nations Member States to a peaceful, negotiation-based method of resolving conflict situations, no matter how difficult they might seem. Building further on our efforts in that direction, we invite the international community to declare 2025 the year of peace and trust, based on the provisions of resolution 73/338, adopted at the initiative of Turkmenistan.
Today the role of peacekeeping instruments in the international community’s toolkit is objectively increasing. That includes in particular using the potential of neutrality and its conceptual foundations to strengthen overall stability and security. Based on the recognition by the General Assembly of neutrality as a factor in strengthening comp peace and security and resolution 71/275, proclaiming 12 December International Day of Neutrality, Turkmenistan will continue to work actively with partners to expand the membership of the United Nations Group of Friends of Neutrality for Peace, Security and Sustainable Development.
The logic of the development of global processes in the field of security dictates the need for a radical strengthening of the mechanisms of regional interaction. On 28 July, the General Assembly adopted resolution 76/299, proclaiming Central Asia a zone of peace, trust and cooperation. We are grateful to the international community for that decision, which creates the necessary conditions in a strategically important part of the political map of the world for carrying out active efforts to strengthen international security, prevent and resolve conflicts, and build strong and effective regional institutions to that end.
As the host country of the headquarters of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, Turkmenistan urges the provision of all possible assistance to its work, which has proven its effectiveness. Given that December 2022 will mark the fifteenth anniversary of the establishment of the Regional Centre, we intend to submit to the General Assembly a draft resolution on the role of the Centre, reflecting the significant events of recent years and consolidating the mechanisms of regional interaction built on its basis.
We are particularly concerned about the currently rise in threats to global food security, which are rapidly beginning to affect an increasing number of countries and entire regions. In these conditions, urgent efforts and effective measures are required of the entire world community to overcome the current situation. In order to maintain the stability of the global food market, to jointly search for solutions to the complex problems of providing food to the most vulnerable countries, and to support the efforts of the Secretary-General to that end, we propose to hold an international forum on food security in Turkmenistan.
In the current context, it is especially important to fully deliver on the agreements reached on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) . In that regard, in support of the multilateral tools for monitoring the achievement of the SDGs, Turkmenistan will submit its second voluntary national review on the implementation of the SDGs during the High-level Political Forum in 2023.
At present, meeting the challenge of sustainable development will largely depend on the level of international cooperation in such critical areas as transport and energy. Pursuing its efforts to promote multilateral transport cooperation, at the current session Turkmenistan intends to summarize the results of the 2016 and 2021 United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conferences and other high-level transport forums held in recent years, including the Ministerial Transportation Conference of Landlocked Developing Countries, held in Turkmenistan on 15 and 16 August, and to prepare proposals for the development of a draft concept for a special interregional United Nations programme for transport development.
At the current session, Turkmenistan also counts on the logical continuation of a broad dialogue on the problem of energy security. In that context, we consider it necessary, based on the provisions of General Assembly resolutions on the reliability and stability of energy resource supplies to world markets, adopted at the initiative of our country, to continue working on the implementation of Turkmenistan’s earlier proposals on the establishment of an international open-ended expert group to develop a modern international legal United Nations toolkit to regulate sustainable and reliable energy transit.
In Central Asia, due to objective reasons, climate change and water issues are of critical importance and, in some cases, determining factors in the development of regional processes, with a significant impact on the general situation, the implementation of socioeconomic development plans and efforts to address serious environmental issues.
Based on the positions of Turkmenistan on climate change adaptation and mitigation, presented in November 2021 at the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Glasgow, as well as those practically considered in multilateral consultations within the framework of the Bonn Climate Change Conference in Bonn in June, Turkmenistan is conducting preparatory work for the establishment in Ashgabat of a regional centre for climate technology for the countries of Central Asia.
At the same time, noting the nationally determined contribution of Turkmenistan, adopted in May 2022 in the context of fulfilling its obligations under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Turkmenistan intends to step up its efforts to achieve the goals outlined in that document, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the promotion of the Global Methane Pledge initiative.
We will make persistent and determined efforts to single out the Aral Sea problem a dedicated area of work within the United Nations. To that end, in May 2023 we intend to resume negotiations on a draft resolution of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific on the establishment of a special United Nations programme for the Aral Sea basin, which will be based on the provisions of resolutions 72/273 and 73/297, on cooperation between the United Nations and the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, adopted in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
The impact of the pandemic requires us to pursue our coordinated efforts to address identified vulnerabilities in global and national health systems. Turkmenistan will continue to support the joint activities of the international community to combat the novel coronavirus infection and create tools for medical diplomacy. Emphasizing the key role of the World Health Organization in developing consolidated responses to common challenges, we support the global One Health concept and will promote it as part of the Roadmap for Health and Well-Being in Central Asia 2022-2025.
Despite the diversity of the challenges facing each of our countries, we are united by common hopes, anxieties and threats. Turkmenistan is ready, together with its partners, to seek new approaches and ways to overcome the challenges faced by humanity. Based on strategic cooperation with the United Nations, our country will make every effort to achieve these goals.