OREANDA-NEWS. February 24, 2010. The Turkmen capital hosts the three-day forum of heads of the Central Asian national societies. The meeting is organized by the National Red Crescent Society of Turkmenistan (NRCST) with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Central Asia.

The forum brought together the representatives of the ICRC Regional Office in Central Asia, the ICRC Regional Delegation (RD), the IFRC Regional Delegation in Central Asia and the heads of the national societies (NS) of five states of the region – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the conference hall of the President Hotel.

The aim of the meeting is to summarize the joint activities of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in 2009, exchange experiences, discuss the prospects for cooperation and identify the priorities of the activity of this largest humanitarian organisation in different fields. The focus of the discussion is 2020 IFRC/IP Strategy and the aspects of the preparation for the European Regional Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference scheduled for the current year.

Speaking at the opening ceremony Anita Underlin, Head of ICRC’s Regional Delegation in Europe and Yves Giovannoni, Head of ICRC’s Regional Delegation in Central Asia emphasized that this meeting in Ashgabat would facilitate the achievement of the concrete results as well as the strategic goals of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, i.e. to promote global humanitarian cooperation in the name of peace, security and sustainable development.

The forum participants noted that these goals and objectives were reflected in President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s constructive foreign policy based on the principles of positive neutrality, peace and openness, the traditions of good neighbourliness and mutual assistance was consistent with the fundamental norms of international humanitarian law. This policy standing as a reliable guarantor of Turkmenistan’s commitment to international obligations was welcomed and supported by the world community and had earned the country the high international prestige.