UNRC Office, Ashgabat, 13 April – The United Nations agencies in Turkmenistan took part in the conference and exhibition entitled “Turkmenistan and International Organizations: Partnership for Global Peace and Development."
Dedicated to Turkmenistan’s re-election to three UN Commissions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on April 5, 2016, the conference participants discussed the key focus areas of the three committees: Commission on Population and Development (CPD), Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) and Commission on Social Development (CSD), and Turkmenistan’s potential to contribute to these fields.
The membership period of Turkmenistan for the CPD is 2016-2020, for the CSTD is 2017-2020, and for the CSD is 2017-2021.
In her speech, UN Resident Coordinator Ms. Jacinta Barrins congratulated the Government of Turkmenistan on election to these UN Commissions stating that Turkmenistan has made significant achievements on the national level, including SDG nationalization process, and has experience to share internationally.
Ms. Barrins noted the 48th session of the UN CPD convened this day in New York with the priority theme of the session, “Strengthening the demographic evidence base for the post-2015 development agenda.”
She stressed the significance of improving data collection, its accuracy, and evidence based results, “It’s vital to have accurate data and to make sure it is used in policy making”, she said, advocating for moving into a research field too, as research results may serve as a basis for policymaking.
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Central Asia, the Head of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), Petko Draganov and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Deputy Representative, Alena Sialchonak have also spoken on the UN-Turkmenistan cooperation. They called for increased investments into the early childhood development and stressed the importance of Turkmenistan’s role in peacekeeping.//UNRC Office.
UNFPA note: The UN Commission on Population and Development plays a major role in the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), adopted in 1994 in Cairo. UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund is the leading UN agency to support countries in achieving the ICPD goals.
In Turkmenistan, the UNFPA office was opened in 1992 and nearly 25 years the agency supports the Government of Turkmenistan in strengthening the statistical system and using population trends and dynamics in policy decision-making. In the next five years, UNFPA in Turkmenistan intends to continue working with the Government of Turkmenistan to develop effective multi-sectoral mechanisms for population data collection, processing, analysis, and dissemination to ensure evidence-based programming for gender equality, youth development and reproductive health.
