UN Climate Center in Turkmenistan to be useful for all of Central Asia

Serdar Berdimuhamedov

By Kuban Andymen

BISHKEK: Permanent Coordinator of the UN in Turkmenistan Dmitry Shlapachenko confirmed that the establishment of the Regional Center for Climate Technologies for Central Asia in Turkmenistan is progressing steadily.

This initiative by Turkmenistan is very important for the UN, as the Central Asian region is considered one of the most vulnerable to climate change, Shlapachenko said, the CentralAsia.news information reports.

Last month, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, speaking at the plenary meeting of the 78th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, proposed to establish the Regional Center for Technologies related to Climate Change in Central Asia.

The head of state noted that among the key areas of the UN in coming years, Turkmenistan considers the resting of urgent climate and ecological issues, including the issues regarding global methane pledges, reports in the capital Ashgabat said.

He also emphasized that with joining the Paris Agreement for Climate Change in 2017, number of relevant national programs were adopted in our country. National events are being held aimed at reducing and eliminating negative effects of methane emissions into the atmosphere.

“At the same time, we welcome the efforts of the global community for realizing Global Methane Pledge,” Berdimuhamedov said.

He recalled the Roadmap on the Development of the International Cooperation aimed at studying on joining of Turkmenistan to the Global Methane Pledge was recently approved in Turkmenistan and soon the document will be sent to the UN Secretariat.

According to the head of state, the time has come for the UN to pay close and effective attention to the ecological issues in Central Asia, overcome certain delays in addressing them and begin taking targeted and specific actions to create a coherent ecological strategy of the UN regarding the region.

The region, with a population of nearly 80 million, holds unique natural resources and biodiversity, but, at the same time, it is located in a region with serious ecological risks.

“As the significant step to take a strategic approach in ecological issues of Central Asia, Turkmenistan is proposing establishment of specialized agency – Regional Center for Technologies related to Climate Change in Central Asia, which will work substantively and systematically on the topic of climate,” Berdimuhamedov said

He emphasized the readiness of the Turkmen side to offer organizational and technical terms for the functioning of such Center in Ashgabat.

Dmitry Shlapachenko

In his comments, the UN Coordinator said that the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Turkmenistan and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is expected soon.

This step will mark the beginning of thematic negotiations with countries in the region that have also shown interest in this initiative, Shlapachenko added.

The diplomat expressed hope that the Regional Center will be opened next year.

The UN representative highlighted Turkmenistan’s initiative related to youth and noted that this topic is highly relevant for the UN.

The organization will actively support any initiatives put forward by Turkmenistan in this direction, he said.