Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan Mr. Rashid Meredov and Mr. Heimo Laakkonen, UNFPA's Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, signed Co-Financing Agreement for the new Country Programme for the period of 2016-2020 between UNFPA and Turkmenistan during the celebration of 20th anniversary of the UN General Assembly recognizing Turkmenistan’s status of Permanent Neutrality.
“We welcome the co-financing agreement signed last weekend as a major step towards Turkmenistan assuming full ownership of development programmes within its borders,” said Mr. Heimo Laakkonen, UNFPA’s Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “With this agreement, Turkmenistan reaffirms its commitment to making progress on key population priorities such as gender equality, youth empowerment and universal access to reproductive health. And it has become a role model in the region for a new model of partnership in working towards achieving the new Sustainable Development Goals.”
Signing the agreement in Ashgabat on 12 December 2015, Mr. Laakkonen also congratulated Turkmenistan on its contribution as a UN member state to the humanitarian and development efforts in the region.
Mr. Laakkonen also participated in a high-level international conference on "The Policy of Neutrality: International Cooperation for Peace, Security and Development," where he underlined that nature of the Sustainable Development Goals as a people-centered universal agenda aimed at improving lives by ensuring equal opportunities, social protection, and enabling environments, which are fundamental to building resilience of the communities and individuals and strengthening crisis prevention and preparedness. A pathway to resilience is equitable, inclusive development that protects rights, which can be delivered by measurable implementation based on reliable data collected, adequate resource allocated and communities meaningfully engaged.
Earlier in August 2015 Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, the UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNFPA made his first visit to Turkmenistan. “There is a visible commitment of the Government of Turkmenistan [towards] the ICPD issues, and UNFPA expresses readiness in supporting the government in its work to improve the lives of women and young people’s reproductive lives,” Executive Director said. Speaking to President Berdymukhammedov, a doctor and former deputy prime minister responsible for healthcare, Dr. Osotimehin congratulated the Turkmen leader on reforms to the country’s healthcare sector, particularly the strengthening of its system for reproductive health. He also welcomed the government’s progress in implementing the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Both sides acknowledged the strategic partnership between the Government of Turkmenistan and UNFPA, with Osotimehin promising UNFPA’s continued support for the government’s work to expand and advance achieved results.
With the government’s increased ownership of the new Country Programme between UNFPA and Turkmenistan for the period of 2016-2020, UNFPA will shift from service delivery and capacity-building to advocacy and upstream policy support. UNFPA expert support will focus on strengthening institutional capacities and mechanisms within the national health system to deliver high-quality, gender-sensitive, and client-friendly reproductive health services, and evidence-based youth empowerment and gender equality programmes
UNFPA support to Turkmenistan began in 1992 with the provision of reproductive health commodities, equipment, and capacity development for healthcare providers. The more than 20 years of partnership between UNFPA and the Government of Turkmenistan have resulted in many achievements in the areas of women’s and young people’s reproductive health, gender equality, and the use of population data to meet SDGs. Collaboration between UNFPA and the Government of Turkmenistan strengthened institutional capacity and build systems for the improved quality of family planning and neonatal services due to standardisation of clinical practice. The government is continuing to increase its investments in reproductive, women’s, maternal and newborn health care.
UNFPA: Delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
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