First of all. I would like to congratulate the heads and members of delegations and other participants on the opening of the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly, and I wish them productive work. I would also like to congratulate Mr. Dennis Francis on his election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session.
Today a high responsibility should unite all States Members of the United Nations. Each of them should have, and has. the means to significantly contribute to tackling the tasks of the United Nations. The current world faces very serious challenges for various reasons. Despite their differences in appearance, they all influence the course of inter-State relations to a greater or lesser extent and often negatively influence the implementation of agreed plans and programmes in key areas of the global agenda. That, in turn, may lead to the lowering of the very foundation of global security as a principle of the United Nations, which should not be allowed.
Over several years. Turkmenistan has therefore firmly and persistently upheld the principle of the unity of security and its integrity. We are convinced that military and political security should not be considered separately from economic, ecological, energy, transport, food, biological and information security. None of those areas that I mentioned can be secondary or irrelevant, and their solutions cannot be postponed.
I think that the main challenge of the United Nations is to provide an integral approach to the security challenge, mobilize the current experience, competence, ideas and initiatives of Member States in a constructive manner and step back from short-term gains to attain truly crucial goals that will provide lasting peace, security and development over the long term. That can be achieved only collectively and with the United Nations in the leading role.
Amid the discussions on the role of the United Nations in the current world and suggestions to reform it. it is a fact that there is no alternative to the United Nations. From the day of its establishment, the United Nations has stood as the only universal and legitimate Organization responsible for peacekeeping and for providing global and comprehensive security and a stable modern structure of inter-State relations. That is the principled position of Turkmenistan.
For that reason, we must consistently and persistently make use the potential of this global Organization and its political and diplomatic tools and moral authority in order to make a balanced, non-ideological assessment of the current events and trends, to overcome the distrust and confrontational tension in world politics and try to indicate perspectives for compromise and the consideration of mutual interests. That is possible only in an open and genuine dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations. We are aware that achieving that kind of dialogue will not be easy; however, it is necessary.
In that regard. Turkmenistan proposes beginning to discuss opportunities for the development of a global security strategy based on the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the universal standards of international law. considering the current realities and trends in global development. In our opinion, such a strategy should reflect the existence of the new risk factors that recently appeared, along with the traditional ones. We also consider it necessary to include a number of areas of the United Nations in it. in particular preventive diplomacy as an instrument to prevent and diffuse conflicts, usage of the potential of neutrality for the peaceful, political and diplomatic settlement of disputes and controversies and the restoration of a structure of trustful dialogue, based on the decisions of the General Assembly in declaring 2021 the International Year of Peace and Trust and 2023 the International Year of Dialogue as a Guarantee of Peace. Time has confirmed the relevance of those resolutions in the current situation.
In order to achieve global and comprehensive security. Turkmenistan bases its position on the need to give a pronounced regional context to the work of the United Nations. We conclude that such an approach aims to contribute sufficient specificity and to increase functionality and effectiveness.
I am convinced that the time has come to launch an inclusive, comprehensive and systemic dialogue between Central Asia and the United Nations. Turkmenistan respectfully invites partners to join its initiative. In that regard, our country is taking the initiative to create the format of the Conference on Security in Central Asia
and Bordering Areas under the auspices of the United Nations. The goal of the conference is the development of approaches and decisions aimed at aligning and synchronizing the efforts of the Central Asian States and the global community, international organizations and financial and economic institutions to provide stable, conflict-free development of the region. We express our readiness to host the first conference in Ashgabat in 2024.
Turkmenistan considers the addressing of urgent climate and ecological issues to be among the key areas of the work of the United Nations in the coming years. Among those, we highlight the issues related to the Global Methane Pledge.
I must say that, with joining the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2017. a number of relevant national programmes were adopted in our country. National events aimed at reducing and eliminating the negative effects of methane emissions into the atmosphere are being held. We are primarily talking about the phased implementation and use of modern, green and resource-saving technologies, mainly in the areas of energy, industry and transport.
At the same time, we welcome the efforts of the world community towards realizing the Global Methane Pledge. Of course, we expect substantive cooperation and targeted assistance from the specialized agencies of the United Nations. States Members of the Organization and other interested partners. In that context, the road map for the development of international cooperation aimed at studying Turkmenistan’s joining of the Global Methane Pledge was recently approved. We will soon send that document to the Secretariat.
Overall. I believe that the time has come for the United Nations to pay close and effective attention to ecological issues in Central Asia, work on certain delays in addressing them and begin taking targeted and specific actions to create a coherent ecological United Nations strategy regarding the region, with a population of nearly 80 million people, covering a vast area with its unique natural resources and biodiversity, while, at the same time, being located in a region with serious ecological risks.
As a significant step in taking a strategic approach to the ecological issues of Central Asia. Turkmenistan proposes the establishment of a specialized agency, the regional centre for technologies related to climate change in Central Asia, which will substantively and systematically work on the topic of climate. We are ready to offer organizational and technical terms for the functioning of such a centre in the capital city of Turkmenistan. Ashgabat.
The Central Asia region adjoins the Caspian Sea. Everyone is aware of the importance of that lake, with its unique natural system in the context of the global ecological agenda. As a result of the active and respectful long-term cooperation of coastal countries, the key principles of a policy on the Caspian Sea were developed, including the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. Last summer, at the sixth Caspian Summit, held in Turkmenistan, all the participants strongly affirmed their readiness for close cooperation on ecological issues. I believe that that provides a good opportunity for the beginning of the broad, systemic interaction of coastal countries with the United Nations.
In that regard. Turkmenistan proposes the creation of the Caspian ecology initiative, which seeks to become a platform for substantive and professional interaction on a wide range of issues associated with the environmental protection of the Caspian Sea. preserving its biological resources and tackling several pressing ecological issues. We think that the realization of that initiative should be accomplished in close cooperation with the United Nations and its agencies and institutions.
As a responsible State Member of the United Nations. Turkmenistan clearly formulates and implements its own approaches and actions by defining priorities that will make a tangible contribution and serve for the benefit of global goals, facilitating their early achievement. Among those priorities, we highlight the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the area of transport.
As Member States know. Turkmenistan initiated the establishment of effective international platforms in that important area. Let me mention the first-ever Global Sustainable Transport Conference, which was successfully held in Ashgabat in 2016. as well as the Ministerial Meeting of Landlocked Developing Countries on Trade and Transport, which was organized last summer in Turkmenistan in cooperation with the United Nations.
We are proud that Turkmenistan’s purposeful work was marked by the adoption in recent years by the General Assembly of six resolutions on transport, which were initiated by our country. Among the recent
ones is resolution 77/286. entitled “World Sustainable Transport Day”, which was adopted in May. We thank all Member States for their support of the document.
In that regard, based on the provisions of that resolution. Turkmenistan is proposing to convene a high-level meeting during the current session on the occasion of World Sustainable Transport Day. We hope for the assistance of the relevant United Nations agencies in organizing that event in New York.
An important area of Turkmenistan’s work in achieving the SDGs is maximizing assistance to the United Nations in addressing the food issue. The coronavirus disease, along with other adverse factors, has exposed the weakness of countries where that issue has not been resolved and where the population does not receive proper nutrition. Unity, integrity and determination are necessary when addressing issues related to access to food resources for countries and regions. Guaranteed proper nutrition is an integral part of human rights and a key factor in health and normal physical development, especially for children. It is obvious that that requires ground-breaking decisions and new approaches that overcome political, ideological and cross-cutting barriers.
Consequently. Turkmenistan proposes an initiative to convene a major international forum on food security in cooperation with the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and UNICEF and under the auspices of the United Nations. We express our readiness to provide conditions for holding such an event in the capital city of Turkmenistan within the agreed time frame.
Next year, in Turkmenistan and far beyond its border, including at the United Nations, we will celebrate the 300th anniversary of the prominent son of the Turkmen nation — poet, philosopher and public figure Magtymguly Pyragy. All humankind honours his memory and pays due respect to that great humanitarian, who highly contributed not only to world literature but also to the development of Eastern civilization and to that of the whole world. I would like to conclude with an excerpt from the poem of Magtymguly entitled “Humankind”, in which he addresses his fellows and descendants in these life-affirming lines: “Whether asleep or awake, he will always keep in his mind whatever work is chosen by humankind”.
Let loyalty to creative thoughts and the ideals of peace, justice and progress serve as the main and clear guide in our joint work.