UNDP Shares Achievements with UN Secretary-General during his Turkmenistan-leg of Central Asian Tour
UNDP Resident Representative Lenni Montiel highlights governance, human rights, climate change and disaster risk reduction in the focus of UNDP’s work in Turkmenistan
 | The UN Secretary-General and UN RC/UNDP RR with the UN Country Team in Turkmenistan
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Ashgabat, 2 April 2010 – In the course of his two-day visit to Turkmenistan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his delegation met with the UN Country Team. During the meeting, the UN SG was updated on the milestones of the UN cooperation with Turkmenistan and progress achieved since the opening of UNDP office Turkmenistan in 1993 as the first UN agency in the country. During the meeting, all UN agencies were able to present achievements of their work in Turkmenistan.
Along with heads of other UN Agencies in Turkmenistan, the UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative, Lenni Montiel, and UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Narine Sahakyan had the opportunity to brief the UN Secretary-General on UNDP’s major achievements and focus of work in Turkmenistan for the period of 2010-2015. Main issues were related to governance, human rights, climate change and disaster risk management that fall within the focus areas of UNDP’s support to the country.
In her overview of UNDP’s work to the UN Secretary-General, the UNDP DRR emphasized a number of major initiatives and projects of UNDP such as supporting the improvement of local governance in Turkmenistan for sustainable human development, enhancing electoral processes in Turkmenistan, the EU/UNDP/OHCHR joint project to strengthen the capacity of Turkmenistan to promote and protect human rights, as well as implementing sound land and forest management practices, and assisting the Government of Turkmenistan to more effectively link agricultural policies to climate change and adaptation.
In the same opportunity, Mr. Lenni Montiel noted that UNDP is now exploring new disaster risk management initiatives given Turkmenistan’s willingness to address this issue. He informed the UN Secretary-General that UNDP conveyed its readiness to the Government of Turkmenistan to provide all possible assistance to improve the capacity of national public institutions in the field of disaster risk reduction. Mr. Lenni Montiel also noted that UNDP expressed its profound gratitude to Turkmenistan for providing humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti and informed the UN Secretary-General that UNDP succeeded in placing his op-ed “Don’t wait for disaster” in Turkmenistan’s central newspaper “Neutral Turkmenistan” ahead of his visit. All these signals were clear evidence of Turkmenistan’s readiness to engage with UNDP on disaster risk reduction initiatives.
 | | The UN Secretary-General and Mrs. Ban with UNDP and other UN agencies staff |
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The UN RC/UNDP RR specifically mentioned that UNDP is proud of its reputation as a neutral and efficient development partner of Turkmenistan. Owing to this fact, UNDP was able to continue expanding its programmes in Turkmenistan, including in the sphere of human rights. According to Mr. Montiel, the recently launched EU/UNDP/OHCHR joint project demonstrates Turkmenistan's engagement to enhance its capacity in the sphere of human rights.
The UNDP’s briefing for the UN Secretary-General on UNDP’s human rights initiatives in Turkmenistan was a good prelude to his meeting at the National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, one of the main implementing partners of UNDP in Turkmenistan, where the Director, Yazdursun Gurbannazarova, and Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov informed about progress in the Institute’s work.
The UN Secretary-General’s visit to Turkmenistan was a success, not least because of the crucial role UNDP played in preparing and clearing the programme of his visit with the Government of Turkmenistan, liaising with the UN Secretary-General Trip Coordination Team and Spokesperson Office and assigning a good number of staff to the all-UN Task Force for the organization of the visit. Rovshen Nurmuhamedov, UNDP, together with his UNCEF colleague, Aygul Karayeva, had the honor to address the UN Secretary-General on behalf of all UN staff and presented him with an embroidery manufactured by one of the UNDP projects supporting visually and hearing impaired people.
Overall, the UN Secretary-General’s visit to Turkmenistan has solidified the UN position and image in the country. UNDP, as the UN leading development partner of Turkmenistan, has also benefited from the visit in terms of ensuring strong commitment of the Government of Turkmenistan to advance partnership to a new level and expand the scope of cooperation with UNDP under the new UNDAF for 2010-2015.  | Mr. Ban Ki-moon in the meeting with heads of UN agencies in Turkmenistan
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| | The UN Secretary-General and UN RC/UNDP RR with the UN Country Team in Turkmenistan
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|  | All-UN task-force for the organization of the visit of the UN Secretary-General to Turkmenistan with Mr. Yeocheol Yoon, the UN trip coordinator, Ms. Aksoltan Atayeva, Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the UN, and UN DSS colleagues
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|  | Mr. Ban Ki-moon accompanied by Mr. Lenni Montiel and Mrs. Atayeva, Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the UN
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|  | | The UN Secretary-General and Mrs. Ban accept gifts with gratitude |
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|  | The UN Secretary-General shakes hands with UNDP staff
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