MEETING WITH THE HEAD OF THE UNITED NATIONS ASSISTANCE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN

Today, on the 3rd of November, the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov met via video communication with the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Deborah Lyons.

The parties noted the high level of multiyear cooperation of Turkmenistan with UNAMA since the establishment of the Mission. The positive results and acceleration of collaboration on the way to provision of security, stability and socio-economic development in Afghanistan is confirmed.

The advancement of Intra-Afghan negotiations is especially considered. The parties expressed hope for positive outcomes of the given process aimed at the reestablishment of peace in Afghanistan. The launch of the talks was held in Doha in September of current year. R.Meredov reiterated the readiness of the Turkmen side to provide its political space for future rounds of negotiations.

The parties underlined the importance of providing assistance to Afghanistan in the process of internal and external economic integration. In this regard, the importance of improvement of social, energy, transport and communication infrastructure was underlined. The parties emphasized important actions of the Government of Turkmenistan, in particular on the advancement of the TAPI gas pipeline construction, power and fiber-optic communication lines on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan route, improvement of railway connections which is expected to have a favorable impact on the economic relations on the Eurasian space in general.

Special accent at the meeting was made on the issues of regional and international security, including terrorism, extremism and cross-border crime. The commitment of the Turkmen side to further implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, particularly on the regional level was expressed. The necessity of continuing dialogue on the struggle against terrorism was stated. In this regard, the parties highlighted the significance of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, as well as other formats of collaboration including CARICC, BOMCA, and CADAP.

The issues of humanitarian scope were also discussed. It was underlined that Turkmenistan intends to continue providing the necessary assistance to the people of Afghanistan. Cooperation on the issues posing mutual interest continues in the framework of bilateral agreements between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.

The parties spoke about the importance of strengthening trust and mutual understanding between the countries and people of the world. In this regard, the parties exchanged views on further possible initiatives, in particular for the year 2021, declared by the UN as the Year of International Peace and Trust upon the initiative of Turkmenistan.