OREANDA-NEWS. January 12, 2010. By way of example of the international initiatives and conceptual proposals put forward by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the world community witnesses forming a fundamental vision of global processes that is a logical development of the mature consistent ideology of Turkmenistan’s foreign policy strategy. As is known, they were developed by the leader of the Turkmen state and are based on the belief in the responsibility of the international community and the confidence in the ability of some of its members to rise above momentary benefits in the name of universal goals and prospects. These ideas became the leitmotif of the President’s speech to the session of the UN in New York, and then his meetings with the international journalists during the press conference, which was held on October 1, 2009 in Ashgabat.

The conceptual proposals reflecting Turkmenistan’s foreign-policy priorities at the current stage in international relations are attractive for their innovative approach to building various formats of collaboration. By its active role in international contacts Turkmenistan demonstrates a possibility for interested parties to form the generally acceptable approaches at different levels, including global – in the framework of the Community of Nations, regional – on the platform of bilateral and wider formats of cooperation. In this context the President of Turkmenistan pays particular attention to the permanent value and importance of the universal experience of a civilized dialogue between the states in the framework of the United Nations that has been well-tried by the history of world politics during the second half of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium. Turkmenistan views the topical issues of reforming and increasing the effectiveness of the UN in the light of complex solutions and modernization of the international legal framework of multilateral diplomacy that is able to function on a long-term basis and respond to global challenges of XXI century.

In this respect the search for new forms of collaboration between interested parties on urgent problems of the modern world while the Turkmen leader’s initiatives and proposals aimed at concerting efforts in the specific fields of cooperation under UN auspices attract specific attention is regarded as an effective approaches. The critical criteria that determine the high topicality of the Turkmen leader’s foreign-policy initiatives include the wide support of the international community, particularly the UN member states. Recognition of the community of development goals by the whole mankind, an understanding of the need to address jointly modern challenges and threats, the readiness to take practical steps are the basic condition for the stability of the system of international relations today.

Specifying the strategic vector of cooperation for the Turkmen state, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that “all possible assistance to the world community in its efforts to maintain and strengthen the global security system, prevent and neutralize the threat of conflicts, ensure the conditions conducive to stable and sustainable development of the states and peoples, wide and constructive international cooperation remains the ultimate purpose of Turkmenistan’s foreign policy.”

In this sense, the further development of the President’s conceptual provision defining the essence and content of the concept of security in the modern world is of critical importance in the foreign-policy context. The President of Turkmenistan substantiated the radically new formulation of the integrity and indivisibility of the concept of security in the modern world that contributed to laying the scientific and theoretical as well as political and legal foundation for developing the effective approaches and mechanisms for cooperation in a broad international context.

“Developing our approaches to the challenge to global security, we rely on the integrity and indivisibility of this notion both in the geopolitical sense and on a basis of the coherence of its specific aspects,” the leader of Turkmenistan emphasized in his speech at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly. We are convinced: security of any country cannot be achieved if there is no security in the region, on a continent, in the world. As well as political or military security will not be long-term and full-fledged without achieving economic, energy, food security, without preventing and neutralizing ecological , anthropological risks and risks and threats, without effectively countering international terrorism, organized crime, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and addressing other global challenges.”

This concept of security is of fundamental importance for organizing and taking the practical measures in the sphere of international partnership on a complex basis when keeping the holistic nature of the sphere of security in mind. This demonstrates once again the relevance of the indisputable fact that today mankind faces the critical task to achieve a balance of national, regional and global interests, form qualitatively new approaches to modern political, economic, financial, social, environmental, technological realities.

A key component of strengthening the systematic foundation of global security, as is known, is the disarmament process, especially nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and implementation of the conventional agreements to reduce other weapons. In this regard, the permanent neutrality of Turkmenistan, and especially its legal status, opens up the good practical opportunities for the Community of Nations to positively influence the course and nature of the processes at the regional level, establish the permanent mechanisms for international collaboration, adopt mutually acceptable and consensus decisions.

As a neutral state abiding by the strategy for wide-scale cooperation in the interests of peace and global security Turkmenistan takes the consistent steps to meet its international obligations undertaken in this field. This is evidenced by the meetings and talks conducted by Turkmenistan on a regular basis to take the measures stipulated by the international conventions and treaties that Turkmenistan joined.

The firm position taken by Turkmenistan on disarmament and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction is vividly evidenced by the new ideas and initiatives put forward by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly. Emphasizing that the global disarmament issues, reduction of weapon arsenal, control of proliferation of weapon continued to be the key issues on the global agenda the Turkmen leader underscored the special importance of the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty that was signed by all the states of the region in 2006 and was approved by the UN General Assembly. Supported by the international community through the United Nations, the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, which came into force on 21 March 2009, was an important contribution to strengthening the nuclear nonproliferation regime, enhancing cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, ensuring peace and security in the region and across the world. Ratification of this international treaty by Turkmenistan with other Central Asian states became a logical and consistent step to implement Turkmenistan’s foreign policy aimed at providing overall assistance to the world community on the global disarmament processes for global peace, sustainable development and progress.

Promoting the idea of closer concerting efforts of all interested parties President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov put forward the proposal to hold the international conference on disarmament in Central Asia and Caspian Sea Basin under the auspices of the United Nations in 2010. By expressing the willingness to organize the forum Turkmenistan showed up its openness for the constructive proposals aimed at promoting the global disarmament processes. In this case, the crucial component is not only putting forward particular ideas but also intense interest of the parties in considering their involvement in implementing these ideas. To this end, the Turkmen leader stated that Turkmenistan stood ready to provide under UN auspices the international community all necessary political and organizational conditions for this work.

To implement the initiative put forward by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the 64th session of the General Assembly Turkmenistan together with other interested parties actively carries out the preparatory work for this representative forum. In particular, in mid October 2009 the consultative meeting of the Central Asian Treaty parties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. The government delegations of Turkmenistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Deputy Head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia took part in this meeting. This meeting of the Consultative Group of the states – the parties to the Treaty became a concrete step to implement the Turkmen leader’s initiatives. The meeting initiated the development of the mechanisms for cooperating with all parties concerned, involving the best international practice and institutions to achieve the goals and aims of the Treaty. The further joint actions that the countries of the region would take to meet the commitments set forth in the documents were specified and the procedural issues of cooperation were reviewed. The participants were unanimous that the meeting highlighted the determination of the parties to provide full-scale support to the disarmament process in the region that was of primary importance for contributing to global efforts to reduce the arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, strengthen global peace, stability and security.

A series of the preparatory activities in Ashgabat was continued by the special seminar on nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and international legal cooperation in combating biological, chemical and nuclear terrorism, which was held in early December 2009 at the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia. Along with the Government of Turkmenistan and the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia the organizers of the forum were the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The seminar brought together the diplomats and experts of the foreign ministries of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the representatives of the international organisations and experts from Russia, the United States and Slovakia. The experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Interim Secretariat of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 1540 Committee of the UN Security Council and other major international institutions that provide active assistance to address these critical issues presented their reports and overviews at the seminar. The participants shared experiences and knowledge on non-proliferation of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, counteraction to international terrorism and development of the practical recommendations to enhance further regional cooperation in common interests.

During the days of the abovementioned forum the first consultative meeting on the preparation and organization of the International Conference on Disarmament in Central Asia and Caspian Sea Basin in the first half of 2010 in Ashgabat was conducted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. The diplomats and experts of the foreign ministries of the Central Asians states, Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia participated in the meeting.

During the meeting the participants expressed support for the initiative to hold the conference put forward by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly.

Considering the issues relating to organizing the forthcoming international conference in Ashgabat the participants emphasized that the problem of disarmament as an integrating factor for building the system of global security ranked among the urgent issues on the global agenda. It was emphasized that that the multidimensional nature of the disarmament issues required a constructive and consolidated approach of all parties concerned, and in this respect the forthcoming international conference should provide a political platform for exchanging views between the participating countries and adopting the mutually acceptable decisions. From this viewpoint the international forum that would be held in Ashgabat for the first time was to lay the foundations for wider partnership in the name of security at the regional and global levels as well as become an effective mechanism for disarmament cooperation between the states and international organisations.

Being of fundamental significance to guarantee security and stability in the world the disarmament process is complemented by the task-oriented measures of collaboration on all other aspects of strengthening peace and maintaining the pace of global development. In this regard, the President of Turkmenistan underscores the importance of constructivism and the willingness to concert efforts to build the political and international legal framework for a broader dialogue on the whole spectrum of the components of the system of general security. In this respect, the year 2009 is rich in the examples of practical implementation of the Turkmen leader’s international initiatives. As is known, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the Resolution on the Reliable and Stable Transit of Energy and Its Role in Ensuring Sustainable Development and International Cooperation on the initiative of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in December 2008. The President’s ideas of achieving energy security as well as the principles set forth in the Resolution of the UN General Assembly turned to be consistent with the aspirations of the whole mankind.

With the view to consistently implement the provisions of this Resolution Turkmenistan takes the complex measures in close partnership with the UN and its agencies including with the Ashgabat-headquarter UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia. The landmark events in this series included was the international high-level conference of the same name, which was conducted on April 23-24, 2009 in Ashgabat. It brought together the high-ranking delegations and officials from 57 states – the co-sponsors of the UN Resolution on the Reliable and Stable Transit of Energy and Its Role in Ensuring Sustainable Development and International Cooperation, the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Economic Cooperation Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the International Energy Charter, the International Energy Agency, the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and others. Over 50 large multinational companies in the world were represented at this forum. In the final document the participants formulated the proposal to address the United Nations to consider a possibility to establish an expert group, which would draft the recommendations on the development of the future international legal document on transit of energy in compliance with the proposals of the countries and international organisations concerned. Laying the foundation for concerting international efforts the President of Turkmenistan took the specific steps to enhance the activity at the national level that resulted in establishing the Interagency Working Group for Energy Diplomacy that would coordinate at the government level the development and implementation of the effective measure sin this priority field. This group is responsible for further intensifying international energy cooperation, carrying out the systematic analysis of the situation on the world energy markets, preparing the recommendations and proposals on the implementation of the national energy strategy.

Presenting the results of the international energy forum, which took place on April 23-24, 2009 in Ashgabat at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov underscored Turkmenistan’s readiness to provide every assistance in forming the expert group under the UN expert that would prepare the recommendations on the development of the future international legal document on transit of energy in compliance with the proposals of the countries and international organisations concerned. The Turkmen leader’s statement is based on the belief that the beginning of the work of the expert group will be the first step to prepare “the UN complex document aimed at ensuring the effective functioning of international energy infrastructure including security of energy transportation networks.” The universal importance of the issue under discussion that can be addressed only through widely involving the international community was highlighted thus.

In this regard an event of historical significance was putting the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline, which started in the Turkmen gas fields on the right bank of the Amu Darya River, the into operation on December 14, 2009 in the presences of the leaders of four states. This unique facilities that President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov rightfully called one of the largest energy projects of modern times in his speech at the opening ceremony, became an embodiment of the Silk Road in XXI century as well as the Turkmenistan-Iran pipeline the second line of which was launched quite recently by the leaders of the two countries would promote stability, prosperity and development of the countries and peoples of the vast region on the Asian continent.

In the broadest sense, global security today is a combination of factors, among which energy security is a priority due to the objective conditions of global development. Today Turkmenistan rightly ranks among the world’s energy powers standing at the top of the list of the world’s exporters of natural gas – an important structural component of the global energy balance in XXI century. As is known, the huge reserves of hydrocarbon and other resources in Turkmenistan were proved by the independent audit that allows stating that the mineral wealth will guarantee the welfare and prosperity to many generations of the Turkmen people as well as contribute to the energy wellbeing of the region once being exported in sufficient volumes to world energy markets.

To make a summary it can be noted that the global community more often recognizes the importance and timeliness of the Turkmen leader’s foreign policy initiatives and proposals aimed at concerting global efforts to strengthen peace, security and stability. In the epoch of new Revival President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s foreign policy initiatives demonstrate to the full extent the potential of the positive policy of neutrality, peacebableness and constructive process on the world arena, and Turkmenistan acts as not the world’s energy producer but rather an envoy of goodwill and aspirations for the happiness and welfare of peoples and nations.