Dear Chairperson,
Dear Excellencies and Distinguished guests,
It is a distinct privilege and a pleasure to address the International Conference’s session on “Policy of Peace and Trust: Neutrality and Preventive Diplomacy in Peacebuilding” today. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the Government of Turkmenistan for the invitation to this important event. To my deep regret, I have to participate online due to my obligations here in Nur-Sultan.
Today’s political stability and economic development of Turkmenistan is vivid evidence of the wise and far-sighted leadership led by His Excellency President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and pursuance of a peaceful foreign policy based on the principles of the Permanent Neutrality proclaimed 26 years ago. Turkmenistan is the country whose Status of Neutrality has been recognized by the United Nations General Assembly’s two Resolutions. Its Permanent Neutrality became a decisive factor in its peacemaking efforts and a fundamental principle in its contribution to strengthening of peace and security in Central Asia and at the international scale.
Since then Turkmenistan has been playing an important role in the regional political processes, ensuring regional security and a steady progress. We witnessed that capital of neutrality served as a platform for several meetings and conferences to solve complicated issues like intra-Tajikistan and intra-Afghan dialogues.
I am thrilled to say that on the initiative of Turkmenistan the United Nations has declared June 3rd as International World Bicycle Day, by adopting a resolution on April 12th 2018. I strongly believe in the potential of the bicycle to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and as stated in the UN resolution, “the bicycle can serve as a tool for development and as a means not just of transportation but also of access to education and healthcare.” I personally tried to promote the culture of cycling within my fellow colleagues from OSCE and for 3 years in a row from 2018 to 2020 organized Bicycle Tours from Vienna to Bratislava - two closest capitals in Europe.
Therefore, it gives me a profound feeling of satisfaction to inform that the family of Conference on Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) this year was replenished with a unique member, the state which upholds the principles of neutrality and the values of an active peacemaking. The desire of Turkmenistan to observe the work of our forum represents yet another confirmation of the fact that the fundamental principles and goals of CICA to strengthen peace and stability across Asia are shared by all Central Asian states.
We highly appreciate the commitment of Turkmenistan to engage on promoting CICA values and principles, which was expressed by His Excellency Minister Meredov during the Sixth CICA Ministerial Meeting last October in Nur-Sultan. Taking this opportunity, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to His Excellency for his dedication and support to the CICA process.
Chairperson,
1999 Declaration and Program of Action for a Culture of Peace launched the Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World in 2001-2010 years. The role and importance of this Declaration which sets an integral approach to preventing violence and conflicts based on education for peace, the promotion of sustainable economic and social development, respect for the human rights, cannot be overestimated.
It is also noteworthy mentioning that today’s event is being organized within the framework of the 2021 International Year of Peace and Trust declared by the United Nation’s General Assembly Resolution in 2019, another successful initiative of Turkmenistan.
Despite the continuing efforts of the international community to disseminate the culture of peace, the global community, and Asia in particular, is still facing a number of protracted conflicts, including inter-state and ethnic ones along the emergence of new threats and challenges, like international terrorism and extremism, illegal drug trafficking and migration, religious and ethnic intolerance and environmental disasters.
And it is vivid that the best way to effectively respond to these threats and challenges is through the addressing the root causes and through the preventive diplomacy.
CICA is an effective international forum for building confidence and cooperation aimed at ensuring peace, security and stability in Asia. And next year it will mark its 30th Anniversary.
CICA today has an enormous potential, capacity and distinctive features. It operates through the dialogue, building trust and implementation of the confidence building measures. The necessary institutions have been established, political declarations and basic documents have been adopted, which provide a firm basis for the multi-dimensional cooperation in: military-political, new challenges and threats, economic, environmental, and human, thus enabling it to efficiently apply the cross-dimensional approach. The inclusive membership of the Conference is another important characteristic, bringing together 27 Member States and 9 Observer States, from the Pacific to the Mediterranean, from the Urals to the Indian Ocean, creating the vast geographical area of indivisible security. Consensus based decision-making and interaction on a voluntarily basis – core principles of the Forum.
Therefore, the CICA Member States share the opinion that dialogue creates a favorable environment for peace, security and development. In addition, a dialogue accompanied by a mechanism of multi-dimensional confidence building measures contributes to the prevention of conflicts in its broader sense
During the Sixth Ministerial Meeting the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced Kazakhstan’s bid for another term-in-office at the helm of CICA for 2022-2024 and as one of its key priorities to transforming the CICA into a full-fledged international organization and increasing its potential in the regional issues. In this direction, we stepped into the 30th anniversary year of CICA, and set up forward-thinking priorities for CICA Summit in October 2022.
Turkmenistan, being an initiator of three UN General Assembly resolutions in the field of sustainable transport, makes a great interest for CICA also in the economic dimension. We see a significant potential for cooperation in the development of transport and energy connectivity, the promotion of safe and efficient corridors for the transportation of goods and raw materials, energy resources.
We believe that Turkmenistan could make a valuable input to deepening cooperation between CICA and its partner organization Economic Cooperation Organization, where Turkmenistan is currently a Chair.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
While thanking once again the Government of Turkmenistan for the honour to address this important event, I would like to reiterate the commitment to strengthening cooperation between Turkmenistan and CICA.
I thank you.
