OREANDA-NEWS. March 25, 2010. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received new UN Resident Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative in Turkmenistan, Mr. Lenni Montiel.

Expressing gratitude for the opportunity of a personal meeting the honorary guest conveyed the written message from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who had expressed the heartfelt greetings and best wishes to the Turkmen leader for his reform efforts aimed at achieving the prosperity for the Turkmen state, happiness and wellbeing for the Turkmen people. It was noted that the UN ardently welcomed and fully supported the large-scale reforms initiated by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to promote social and economic development and strengthen the democratic and legal foundations of the state.

Mr. Lenni Montiel handed over the letter from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNDP Administrator, Chair of the United Nations Development Group Helen Clark who had expressed profound gratitude for the assistance provided by Turkmenistan to the Republic of Haiti.

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that standing steadfast to the humanistic ideals propagated by the UN, Turkmenistan could not stand indifferent to people’s grief. The Turkmen leader invited children of Haiti to recreate in the new children’s health-improving and entertainment centres in Avaza national tourism zone and take part in III International Children’s Festival, which would be held with the assistance of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on the Caspian seashore this summer.

The President also noted that Turkmenistan kept the doors open for the representatives of the United Nations – the largest and most authoritative organisation, developing cooperation with which was a key priority of the policy of the Turkmen state.

The Turkmen leader emphasized that having declared the strategy of permanent positive neutrality to be the foundation of its foreign-policy concept, Turkmenistan endeavoured to use this high status delegated by the community of nations and supported by 185 UN member states not only to implement domestic economic and social reforms, but also promote strengthening of peace and global security, establish mutually beneficial cooperation with all countries of the world and the world’s largest institutions. The illustrative examples included the great positive experience of collaboration with the leading UN agencies, which had resulted in implementing a number of important projects in various fields, and the opening of the headquarters of the Regional Centre UN Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia in Ashgabat.

Expressing full support to Turkmenistan’s initiatives aimed at ensuring sustainable development of the countries in the region and achieving global security, Mr. Lenni Montiel thanked the Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov for his considerable personal contribution to promoting the long-term constructive dialogue and his very initiative approach to developing fruitful cooperation in all key fields, including education and health care, strengthening of local self-governance and other critical spheres.

In a friendly and sincere atmosphere the President of Turkmenistan and the UN Resident Coordinator discussed the short-term joint action plan and exchanged views on the possible ways and new fields of wide-scale cooperation based on the positive experience of collaboration accumulated in recent years.

During the meeting President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov expressed sincere gratitude to the United Nations General Assembly for adopting the Special Resolution recognizing international status of Nowruz Bayramy.

Emphasizing that this bright holiday celebrated by our ancestors from times immemorial was officially inscribed on the national calendar of the remarkable dates, the Turkmen leader underscored the significance of this spring holiday for the Turkmen people, who associated it with the beginning of a new life, great joy of life, unity around the imperishable ideals of peace, kindness and creation.

In conclusion Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Mr. Lenni Montiel exchanged the wishes of new accomplishments and expressed keen interest in launching new joint projects aimed at implementing the national programmes as well as achieving the third millennium development goals.