OREANDA-NEWS. April 22, 2010. The two-day seminar on “Stability and Security in Central Asia: Interaction with International and Regional Organizations” was conducted in Ashgabat.

The representatives of Turkmenistan, France, Iran, Norway, Russia, Turkey, the United States, Germany, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and other countries and the specialists of the international and regional organisations including the CIS, CSTO, SCO, OSCE, ICRC and UN agencies, including UNODC, UNDP and UNHCR were invited to participate in the meeting organized by the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).

Such representative participation in the forum is another evidence of a growing interest in the Central Asia region that played a greater role on the world arena due to its profound resource, political and economic potential.

Greeting the participants of the forum Deputy Head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy Fyodor Klimchuk noted that the major goal of the seminar, the agenda of which had been developed in accordance with the recommendations of the last year’s meeting, was further discuss the mechanisms for enhancing stability and security in Central Asia and the ways to build them through using the expertise and resources of the regional and international organisations.

Putting emphasis on the recent positive processes, the participants stated that the active policies pursued by the governments in a majority of the Central Asian states had enabled their economies to demonstrate greater sustainability against the world financial crisis. The stable progress of the Central Asian countries, in its turn, had allowed paying more attention to common challenges including water and energy resources management, non-proliferation of nuclear weapon, climate change, environment, control of cross-border crime and drug trafficking, and, of course, the situation in Afghanistan that was of particular concern for the world community. The best evidence of the readiness of the Central Asian states to take a participatory approach to these challenges, in close cooperation with the international structures concerned were the meetings between UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and the leaders of the Central Asia states during the UN Secretary-General’s tour of the region.

Evaluating highly Turkmenistan’s active position that was reflected in the important international initiatives to achieve energy and water security and facilitate disarmament global processes of in particular, the meeting participants emphasized that such a constructive approach built on openness, mutual confidence and respect for political and economic interests of the partner countries created the most favourable climate to address urgent problems of peace and global security. Underscoring the unquestionable need to concert efforts with the large international and regional organisations operating in the region, the participants emphasized the role of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in building a reliable platform for an open international dialogue, exchanging information and searching for the most effective ways to achieve the designated goals and objectives.

During the seminar participants representing the government agencies concerned, the academic establishments, the regional institutions of strategic research and the national research centers, the international and regional organisations as well as diplomats and independent experts discussed and analyzed the issues put on the Central Asian agenda including the situation in Afghanistan and other political, social and economic factors in maintaining stability in the region.