On December 10, 2023, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov met with FAO's Subregional Coordinator for Central Asia Viorel Gutu, who arrived in Ashgabat to participate in the international conference “Dialogue - a guarantee of peace”, dedicated to the International Day of Neutrality and the 28th anniversary of the permanent neutrality of Turkmenistan.
A wide range of issues of food and environmental security, rational environmental management, as well as joint work in the field of digital land cadastre were raised at the meeting.
The parties noted the fruitful nature of interaction between Turkmenistan and FAO this year, during which a number of joint events were held, including the Conference on Food Security in March 2023 in Ashgabat. In this regard, the Turkmen side expressed its intention to further strengthen cooperation with the Subregional Office of the Organization for Central Asian countries.
V.Gutu emphasized the efforts of Turkmenistan in resolving issues aimed at ensuring food security. At the same time were discussed the possibilities of holding regional conferences in Turkmenistan together with FAO on climate change and food security, designed to become a significant step in the field of adaptation of agriculture to the negative impact of climate change.
In course of the meeting, the progress of current regional and technical FAO projects in our country was also reviewed. In this context, attention was paid to the signing of a package of additional joint technical cooperation projects in the field of developing the aquafeed value chain and aquatic animal health management capacity, developing digital solutions for sustainable pasture management and building capacity for climate-resilient water resource management in Turkmenistan.
A separate topic of the negotiations was the discussion of practical steps to open an FAO office in Turkmenistan.
