On July 17, 2018, at the UN Headquarters in New York, a delegation of Turkmenistan headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan S. Berdimuhamedov had a meeting with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin.
The UN Under-Secretary-General thanked for the successful holding of the First Global Conference on Sustainable Transport and expressed the commitment to continue to cooperate with Turkmenistan in this direction.
The Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan said that Turkmenistan actively participates in the implementation of the Agenda until 2030, as evidenced by the approval by the Government of Turkmenistan on September 20, 2016 of 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), 148 tasks and 194 indicators, and the creation of a Working Group on Implementation of SDGs. Together with this, the head of the delegation reported on the decision of the Government of Turkmenistan to present the National Voluntary Review during the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development to be held in 2019.
Liu Zhenmin said that the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is always ready to support the Government of Turkmenistan in implementing the Agenda until 2030, in the context of the preparation and implementation of national programs and plans for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Then the Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan and the Deputy Minister of Education of Turkmenistan held a meeting with Marie Chatardova, the President of ECOSOC, the Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations.
Representatives of the Turkmen delegation informed that under the leadership of the President of Turkmenistan our country achieved significant success at the national level, including in the process of national adaptation of the SDGs. The delegation noted that on July 13, 2018 Turkmenistan was elected a member of ECOSOC for the period 2019-2021. Membership in ECOSOC allows Turkmenistan to use huge infrastructural opportunities for activating the activities of various UN structures directly in the regions of Central Asia and the Caspian basin.
M.Chatardova congratulated the Government of Turkmenistan on the election to ECOSOC and added that ECOSOC is the main body for implementing the SDGs, where the UN member states have the opportunity to exchange experience in this field.
In the afternoon, members of the delegation of Turkmenistan met with Dereje Wordofa, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA.
The Turkmen delegation thanked the representatives of UNFPA for providing technical assistance in conducting a survey on the situation of women in the family and informed that in 2010 all schools of the country had included the subject "Fundamentals of life" and that the UNFPA regional office was providing trainings for teachers on reproductive health.
D.Wordofa noted the constructive cooperation of UNFPA with the Government of Turkmenistan, the successful visit of the previous UNFPA Executive Director B.Osotimekhin to Turkmenistan. He added that the current Executive Director Natalia Kanem would also like to visit Turkmenistan in 2019. D.Wordofa said that 2019 is a very important year for UNFPA, as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the foundation of UNFPA, as well as the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development.
The representative of UNFPA congratulated Turkmenistan for the progress made in implementing the Agenda for Sustainable Development until 2030. He welcomed the support of young people and women by the Government of Turkmenistan and noted that this is a great contribution to the development of the country's future.
