This is the first visit of a UNFPA head to the Central Asian country since the opening of the UNFPA office in Turkmenistan. 

 The UNFPA Executive Director was accompanied by the UNFPA delegation, including Mr. Heimo Laakkonen, UNFPA Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Mr. Ramiz Alakbarov, UNFPA Programme Division Director, and Ms. Aynabat Annamuhamedova, UNFPA Special Assistant of the Office of the Executive Director.  

Dr. Osotimehin met with the President of Turkmenistan H.E. Mr. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.  UNFPA Executive Director congratulated the Head of State and the Government of Turkmenistan on devoting the year 2015 to mark the 20 year anniversary of the UN General Assembly recognizing Turkmenistan’s status of permanent neutrality.

In view of the recent celebration of the 20year anniversary of the Health programme, UNFPA head also congratulated the President, a doctor and former Deputy Prime Minister responsible for healthcare, on the well rounded reforms in the healthcare sector, particularly the strengthening of the reproductive health system. The sides acknowledged the strategic partnership between the Government and UNFPA, while Dr. Osotimehin conveyed the continued expert support of UNFPA in the Government’s goal to expand the opportunities of women and young people to lead healthy reproductive lives.

Dr. Osotimehin welcomed the Government’s progress in implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and noted the visible achievements in the area of maternal health and family planning, and gender equality.

The President of Turkmenistan extended appreciation to the UNFPA for the partnership, especially in the area of youth policy development, as Turkmenistan has recently adopted the Youth Policy Law and the State Programme for implementation of the Law.  The President invited UNFPA to support the Government in organizing the International Conference on Youth issues in 2016.

 During his visit, UNFPA Executive Director also held high-level meetings with H.E. Mr. Rashid Meredov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, H.E. Ms. Akja Nurberdiyeva, Chairperson of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan, H.E. Mr. Sapardurdy Toyliyev, Deputy Prime Minister responsible for education, health and science, and H.E. Mr. Byashimmyrat Hojamammedov, Deputy Prime Minister responsible for the economy and development. 

Dr. Osotimehin extended appreciation to the Government of Turkmenistan for the fruitful partnership and congratulated for the Government’s increasing leadership and ownership for the new Country Programme for the period of 2016-2020 between UNFPA and Turkmenistan. 

While Turkmenistan has begun to make investments in the area of reproductive health, the sides  agreed that within the next country programme there is a need to expand the focus and investments in youth, the largest population group in the country.  UNFPA will provide comprehensive technical support to the Government to ensure that the country reaps this demographic dividend. The discussions touched on the increasing leadership and role that Turkmenistan plays as a donor in the region and the new model of partnership that UNFPA will begin to build with the Government of Turkmenistan, as an upper-middle-income country.  

The Government has assured UNFPA that Turkmenistan will intensify strategic cooperation with UNFPA capitalizing on the achieved results on policy level in the area of reproductive health, gender equality and data.  UNFPA head also welcomed the growing role of Turkmenistan in regional and global meetings in support of reproductive health and family planning, women’s rights and expanding women’s and young people’s opportunities.  UNFPA will provide technical support to the Government in hosting such regional and international level meetings in Turkmenistan. 

During his meeting at the Mejlis of Turkmenistan, the Chairperson of Mejlis acknowledged the trustful cooperation established between the Mejlis of Turkmenistan and UNFPA in the areas of youth policies, gender equality in legislation, population and development issues.  Dr. Osotimehin highlighted the important role of the Parliament in advancing ICPD agenda in their countries. 

Dr. Osotimehin also met with the United Nations agencies, as well as development partners and stakeholders to generate political commitment and resources for implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Turkmenistan. The meetings were held with Turkmen youth at the Youth Organization of Turkmenistan named after Magtymguly.  The youth presented the highlights of their work in Turkmenistan within the framework of the Y-PEER youth centers that were launched in the capital and Mary city jointly by the Youth Organization and UNFPA.  UNFPA Executive Director encouraged the youth to take an active role in development of their country, specifically in the context of the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals.

UNFPA Executive Director made a visit to the recently opened Maternal and Child Hospital in Ashgabat, where the representatives of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan and hospital specialists gave a tour of the facilities and provided services.  As a result of the UNFPA and Government collaboration, in the recent years the quality of family planning and neonatal services has been improved in the process of standardization of clinical practice, and the Government continues increasing the investments in mother and child health issues.

The meetings were held with Turkmen youth at the Youth Organization of Turkmenistan named after Magtymguly.  The youth presented the highlights of their work in Turkmenistan within the framework of the Y-PEER youth centers that were launched in the capital and Mary city jointly by the Youth Organization and UNFPA.  UNFPA Executive Director encouraged the youth to take an active role in development of their country, specifically in the context of the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals.

UNFPA support to Turkmenistan began in 1992 with the provision of reproductive health commodities, equipment and capacity development for health-care providers. More than 20 years of partnership between UNFPA and the Government of Turkmenistan has resulted in many achievements in the area of women’s and young people’s reproductive health, gender equality and using population data for development.

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.  The 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. It will involve upstream policy engagement aimed at developing evidence-based programmes related to gender, youth, and data and population.

Resources:

UNFPA Executive Director’s bio

In the news:

State News Agency of Turkmenistan (TDH)

Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper

Watan news, ran on all official Turkmenistan channels

Turkmenistan.ru

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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For additional information, please contact:

Ene Tuyliyeva, Advocacy Communication Associate

tuyliyeva@unfpa.org

Tel: 425250

Web: unfpa.org.tm, www.untuk.org