Conference “Promoting Peace: implementing strategies to strengthen trust between countries”

On April 11, 2024, the Conference “Promoting Peace: implementing strategies to strengthen trust between countries” was held at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.

The forum brought together representatives of foreign diplomatic missions, foreign ministry employees, parliamentarians, specialists from the Institute of State, Law and Democracy and the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan, university faculty and students at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. High-ranking leaders of international organizations joined the conference remotely.

Speakers at the plenary session of the conference were Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs R.Meredov, Special Representative of the Secretary General, Head of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for CA K.Imnadze, UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan D.Shlapachenko, Head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ashgabat D.McGregor, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Turkmenistan, the faculty of the institute, as well as students. In addition, Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization S.Zhang, Assistant Secretary General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States of the UN Development Program I.Zivkovic, Deputy Director General and Regional Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for Europe and CA V.Gutsu, Regional Director of the UN Development Coordination Office for Europe and CA G.Son.

The conference participants noted in their speeches that, at the 63rd plenary meeting of the 78th session, the UN General Assembly, at the initiative of Turkmenistan, on March 21, 2024, adopted resolution 78/266 by consensus on declaring “2025 the International Year of Peace and Trust”, which demonstrates the importance of continuing activities to promote a culture of peaceful dialogue in the international community.

This was the next step in the consistent efforts of the President of Turkmenistan to promote a culture of peaceful and trusting dialogue in the international community. Like previous decisions of the UN General Assembly to declare “2021 the International Year of Peace and Trust” and 2023 the “Year of Dialogue as a Guarantee of Peace,” a new initiative is based on the principles of the UN Charter and generally accepted norms of international law, taking into account current realities and trends in global development.

During the event, it was also stated that the adoption of the UN General Assembly Resolution “2025 – International Year of Peace and Trust” as a platform for joint action is intended to contribute to the resolution of emerging conflict situations by peaceful, political and diplomatic methods and means, strengthening trusting relations between states.

Then the international conference continued its work in thematic sessions. The first session of the conference, which was held under the title “Political, humanitarian and diplomatic mechanisms for resolving conflicts and building confidence” was addressed by the UN Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate N.Herman, Regional Director for South-East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the International Organization for Migration M.Profazi, Deputy Director of the UNHCR Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific E.Hansen.

The speakers of the second session of the conference, which held under the title "The role of international organizations in supporting and facilitating peace processes” were Advisor to the OSCE Center in Ashgabat U.Leaf, UNICEF Representative in Turkmenistan M.Fayazi, Deputy Executive Director of the International Trade Center D.Tembo, as well as Regional Director UNICEF for Europe and Central Asia R.De Dominicis.

The theme of the third session of the international conference was “Economic aspects of support sustainable development and peace” in which the speakers was UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Turkmenistan T.Paovich and the economist of the office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan V.Valetka.