Turkmen leader welcomes planned UN regional diplomacy centre in Central Asia

Plans by the United Nations to set up a preventive diplomacy centre in Central Asia represent a milestone in the world body’s efforts to bring peace and stability to the region, Turkmenistan’s President told the General Assembly today.

Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov said his country was certain that the work of the centre – which is expected to be established in Ashgabat, the Turkmen capital, later this year – could be “a strong positive force in resolving the problems our region faces.”

Vowing to “do everything necessary to make the centre’s work effective and fruitful,” the President told the annual high-level debate that cooperation with the UN was the critical element in Turkmenistan’s wider foreign policy.

“This is most apparent in regional matters, where it is the participation of the United Nations and its specialized agencies that promotes convergence of approaches of States to issues, [and the] creation of a favourable political, diplomatic and legal environment for their resolution by joint effort.”

The principles enshrined in the UN Charter “should continue to serve as the moral and legal pillar of the international order,” and all UN reforms should take account of this, he said.

Mr. Berdimukhamedov also called for the Security Council’s structure to change and for better and closer relations between the Council and the General Assembly.