PRESIDENT OF TURKMENISTAN MADE AN ADDRESS AT THE GLOBAL ROUNDTABLE ON TRANSFORMING EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

On the 25th of May 2021, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov gave a speech at the Global Roundtable on Transforming Extractive Industries for Sustainable Development.  The event took place in a format of a videoconferencing and was chaired by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

The event was attended by the heads of states and governments, ministers, heads of major international organizations, experts of academic circles and analytical centers, as well as the representatives of private sector and civil society.

The holding of the roundtable was aimed at the determination of concrete actions and recommendations, which might be implemented at global, regional and national levels for the resolution of problems related to climate change and negatively affecting the attainment of the Global Agenda until 2030.

In his speech, the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov expressed gratitude to the UN Secretary General for the invitation to take part in the Global Forum and underlined that Turkmenistan completely shares the concerns in regard to the negative effect of the industrial emissions to the environment and consistently stands for close coordination of international efforts aimed at the minimization of present risks and challenges.   

“We are confident that the key factor here should be the steady and total adherence to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change”, said the President.  He added that by joining this fundamental document, Turkmenistan has intensified its constructive cooperation with the UN and other specialized international structures for its comprehensive fulfillment.  

President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized the adoption in 2019 of the new revised National Strategy of Turkmenistan on Climate Change that has provided all the necessary legal, organizational and technological conditions for the attainment of ecological tasks.  The Head of State noted that adaptive measures are widely implemented in Turkmenistan on restoration of forests and betterment of land use for the mitigation of climate impacts.  In the framework of the Overall National Programme of Greenery Planting “Green Belt”, vast forest belts are settled with the use of advanced water saving irrigation systems.  Just in the current year, it is envisioned to plant 30 million more of young plants.      

In the last years, the carbon content of products produced in Turkmenistan steadily decreases.  To support this statement, the President of Turkmenistan has presented concrete indicators.  

Speaking about the international initiatives of the state on forming a new architecture of global energy security and provision of wide access to unexpansive, reliable and modern energy resources for all, the President noted that “being one of the major resource extracting countries in the world and comprehending its responsibility in this regard, Turkmenistan makes efforts to preserve the balance between the manufacturing goals and missions on saving the environment.”       

He also noted that jointly with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the preparatory work is carried out on the implementation of two major projects on preserving the ozone layer. 

The President has voiced the feasibility of working out a UN Strategy aimed at the implementation of measures for the development of low carbon energy and proposed to prepare an International Roadmap under the UN auspices on the development of hydrogen as one of the priorities in the energy field.   

The current meeting of high level was convened by the UN Secretary General and has completed the series of roundtables held in the recent months by the UN regional economic commissions in the framework of the “Financing for the Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond Initiative” (FFDI).