Turkmenistan, 2005

Allow me to congratulate the President, on his election

to his high post and to express our confidence in his

successful and professional implementation of the

mandate entrusted to him. Allow me to also express

our gratitude to Mr. Jean Ping for his untiring activity

in guiding the fifty-ninth session of the General

Assembly.

Last week the High-level Plenary Meeting

concluded its work, which resulted in the adoption of

an outcome document, reflecting the Meeting’s

commitment to attaining the Millennium Development

Goals.

The United Nations is an irreplaceable structure

of multilateral inter-State interaction. Therefore, the

question on how it will respond to the hopes and

aspirations of every Member will determine its

viability. We agree with the Secretary-General that the

Organization “remains fully engaged in conflict

resolution, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance,

defence of human rights and development around the

world”. (A/60/PV.2)

We support the proposals contained in the

outcome document on strengthening the United

Nations in areas of development, ensuring collective

security, counteracting terrorism, ensuring the dignity

of the individual and reforming the Organization.

We are in favour of strengthening the role of the

United Nations, and urge more transparency in its work

and an improvement of its structure. The activities of

its bodies should be conducted on the basis of a wide

consensus among Member States. We welcome the

efforts of the Secretary-General aimed at preventing

conflicts and strengthening preventive activity in that

area.

We support the efforts against terrorism by the

Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee. Its

role is invaluable in coordinating and exchanging

information and analysing trends.

The present session is devoted to an appraisal of

the progress made by States in achieving the

Millennium Development Goals. Therefore, allow me

to share with you information on how Turkmenistan is

implementing the Goals.

Reforms are being implemented in Turkmenistan

in the economic and social sphere, in accordance with

the national programme of social and economic

development for the period until 2020. The reforms

have assisted in establishing a powerful industrial

potential, creating a market model for administration

and the private sector of economy, and ensuring

dignified living conditions for the people.

Turkmenistan possesses huge energy resources,

gas and oil industries being the main sources of

development of the national economy. The energy

potential of Turkmenistan is currently estimated at

more than 45 billion tons of oil equivalent, or a fifth of

all world reserves of natural gas and oil.

Thanks to the national programmes developed in

the early years of independence, the reforms have

introduced a new type of industry. Turkmenistan, by its

own national resources, has invested $30 billion in the

national economy and has built over 1,050 industrial

plants and factories possessing highly sophisticated

equipment.

We have been successfully developing new

branches of industry, namely, the oil and gas, energy,

textile and food sectors. In the textile industry, we have

established new specialized companies and large

integrated textile plants, organizing large-scale

production of various cotton fibre products, 60 per cent

of which is exported. The textile industry represents

28 per cent of the overall volume of production of our

manufacturing industry.

The agrarian sector of the economy has

undergone complete reconstruction. Since the middle

of 1995, all collective and State farms have been

abolished. Reform has been directed at transferring

land to private ownership and long-term lease and

expanding the areas of privately-held lots. The

Government has undertaken measures to stimulate

private agricultural production. Half of the cost of

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technical services is borne by the State. The population

has been exempted from payment of taxes on land,

houses, construction and the maintenance of cattle and

poultry. All these and other measures have

strengthened agriculture and have stimulated a growth

in production.

This year Turkmenistan harvested a record 3.1

million tons of wheat. At the current stage of

development, consumer demand in our country is met

mainly by domestic production, practically ensuring

food independence for the country.

Turkmenistan attaches great importance to the

creation and expansion of its railway infrastructure,

which meets the highest modern standards. Today, the

railway system of Turkmenistan covers more than

2,000 kilometres. In recent years two new railways

were constructed and a third is under way, which has

increased the size of the system by nearly 500

kilometres.

The country has become a vital part of the

common international transport system. The Trans-

Asiatic Railway has created a steel variant of the

ancient Silk Road, and this connects Turkmenistan

with the countries of Europe and the Asian continent

and promotes social and economic development.

Turkmenistan attaches great importance to social

protection. Ensuring dignified living standards,

security, rights and freedoms of citizens and

strengthening the legal basis of society is our internal

policy. During the entire transition period, the

President and Government worked to provide social

support to the population. Since 1993 they have given

to their citizens gas, electricity, water, salt, health

services and education free of charge.

There is a large-scale housing construction

programme. Citizens are guaranteed ownership of

comfortable well-designed homes on financially

attractive terms, with loans extending over a 15-year

period and the future homeowner’s employer paying

50 per cent of the costs. Thanks to free education and

good access, the country has a high level of education

and literacy. Turkmenistan has achieved success in

other areas, in particular the protection of the rights of

children and the defence of their interests. This is a

clear confirmation of our tireless fulfilment of our

obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the

Child.

Working with the United Nations Children’s

Fund, in 2000 we successfully implemented a programme

for the protection of mothers and children, the

comprehensive development of children and the

promotion and well-being of the youth.

The country has achieved wide immunization

coverage, which has led to a significant reduction in

infectious diseases among children. A lot of work is

being carried out in the areas of maternal and child

health, education and social protection. In Turkmenistan,

we are the fourth country in the world to be recognized

by the United Nations as a State that has introduced

universal iodization of salt in accordance with accepted

international standards. In this connection it has been

noted that our country consistently carries out its

obligations, not only with regard to iodine deficiency

but also with regard to the micronutrients that are

needed for the development of a growing child’s body.

For many centuries, our country has been a

crossroads of routes between East and West and South

and North and has been a key link in the Great Silk

Road, which served as a road of peace and dialogue for

cultures for almost one and a half thousand years. This

led to the creation of a special spiritual atmosphere in

our Turkmen land, and it is not accidental therefore

that the national mentality of the Turkmens was

generated in its essence as internationally oriented,

seeing the individual as the supreme value, and rooted

in openness, tolerance, respect for the culture of other

peoples and natural peacefulness.

The political system of the State recognizes the

important role played by civil society. Public

associations and professional and artistic unions play

an active role in determining the economic, social and

cultural policies of the State.

Turkmenistan has historically respected religious

freedom for its citizens and strictly respects generally

recognized international norms and principles in the

area of freedom of worship. As a result, more than 100

religious organizations are registered in Turkmenistan.

The State guarantees the freedom of religion and

belief, the equality of faiths before the law and the

right of everyone independently to determine his or her

relationship to religion.

Turkmenistan recognizes the primacy of

universally recognized norms of international law and

has joined or ratified the fundamental international

instruments in the area of human rights. An important

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measure in this area has been Turkmenistan’s

declaration of its status of a permanently neutral State,

and this has been approved by the General Assembly.

Turkmenistan has assumed its international obligations

in that connection and has fulfilled them over the past

10 years. These obligations are incorporated in the

constitutional laws on the neutrality of Turkmenistan

and on its international obligations in the field of

human rights.

In 1999 we abolished the death penalty.

Turkmenistan has adopted specific political, economic

and social measures for the protection of the rights of

refugees, who arrived in our country between 1991 and

1997. During this period, about 20,000 refugees from

Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Armenia and other countries

arrived to Turkmenistan. Under the decree of the

President of Turkmenistan, more than 16,000 of them

received citizenship or residence permits.

We welcome efforts of the Secretary-General of

the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, aimed at

strengthening the United Nations. We are grateful to

the United Nations, its Secretariat, its specialized

agencies such as the United Nations Development

Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the

United Nations Population Fund, the World Health

Organization and others, who have coordinated and

provided invaluable assistance to the development of

our State.

Turkmenistan along with many other States has

high hopes in the United Nations and calls for its

strengthening and the broadening of its role in the

world.