Book Authored by President of Turkmenistan Formally Presented at UN

On October 1, on the sidelines of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, members of the Turkmen delegation organized a presentation event for President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s recently published book Turkmenistan: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Among those in attendance were members of many delegations from different countries, participating in the session of the UN General Assembly, representatives of the UN committees and bodies, public figures and scientists. 

The new book was formally presented to the international community by the President of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan, who emphasized that it includes an in-depth analytical review of the comprehensive development of our country that abounds in natural resources and boasts enormous production, infrastructure and human potential. The book offers readers, including economists, political analysts, sociologists and other experts, detailed insights into the implementation progress of Turkmenistan’s national and sectoral programs, large socio-economic projects in the context of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by all UN Member States in September 2015. 

As noted, at its core, Turkmenistan’s Socio-Economic Strategy is oriented towards the needs and interests of every person in line with the SDGs. The President-authored treatise outlines the strategic objectives of the country’s home and foreign policy, its top priorities in the economic, social and ecological spheres. 

The new book is yet another testament to the fact that Turkmenistan attaches overriding importance to the multi-faceted cooperation with the UN and takes an active role in stepping up the joint efforts to develop a concerted approach to tackling central issues, such as strengthening of peace and security, and achievement of the SDGs at the regional and global levels. 

Today, the close interest evinced in Turkmenistan’s achievements by many countries and international experts is entirely explicable. Politicians, public figures, experts of authoritative international organizations directly attribute our country’s undeniably impressive progress to the President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s scientifically grounded, thought-out policy, which is well suited to the modern era. The experience accumulated by our country in this field is of great value both nationally and globally. 

The speaker highlighted that Turkmenistan’s foreign policy is characterized by its novel approach to the pressing challenges of today, dynamism, responsibility and reliability. It has become easily recognizable and won widespread acclaim in the global community. As for the constructive initiatives by the head of state, they have dramatically enhanced our country’s reputation as an independent and peaceful nation. 

No doubt the President-authored book will be useful to those, interested in our country’s current level of development and its contribution to promoting global dialogue and maintaining peace on the planet. 

Speaking at the event, the Rector of the International University of Humanities and Development identified main areas of the UN-Turkmenistan partnership in the light of the Sustainable Development Goals, having outlined its positive outcomes. Among them he mentioned the SDG Research Center at the Institute of International Relations (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan), established to raise public awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals, including among young people, private enterprises and public organizations. 

Turkmenistan was among the first nations in the region to adapt the Sustainable Development Goals with 17 goals, 148 targets and 175 indicators integrated into national development plans and programs. A Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals has been set up in the country at the ministers’ and senior officials’ level, and the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan has assumed an instrumental role in monitoring the implementation of the SDGs and national accountability. 

As noted, next year Turkmenistan will submit a Voluntary National Review to report to the world community on its experience and implementation progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In October the country’s Government and the UN will discuss six SDG targets, presented in the Voluntary National Review. 

The book Turkmenistan: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is a wealth of factual and statistical data that illustrates a great deal of work done in the country and proves the feasibility of future plans. 

The next speaker, Director of the Institute of State, Law and Democracy of Turkmenistan focused on the massive efforts undertaken to improve Turkmenistan’s macroeconomic indicators and foreign economic policy to facilitate sustainable development. In his book President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov extensively explores the issues and identifies the key areas, objectives and priorities of the 2030 National Strategy. 

The author writes in the Foreword that the idea for the book came to him during the 2015 working visit to New York, when a government delegation of Turkmenistan attended the 70th session of the UN General Assembly (marking the 70th anniversary of the United Nations) and the United Nations Summit on the post-2015 Development Agenda. 

The historic event culminated in the formal adoption of a new mid-term sustainable development agenda by the global community. However, Turkmenistan had identified national targets and objectives similar to the Sustainable Development Goals seven years before the 70th session of the UN General Assembly took place. Among the first orders issued by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov after his election to office was the one to develop a special social program on an unprecedented scope and scale with a budget of tens of trillions of manats. It aimed at raising the people’s living standards. 

The book describes how the Sustainable Development Goals had begun to take shape in Turkmenistan at the national level long before they were adopted by the global community, and offers specific examples and positive results. 

Some of the Sustainable Development Goals have been successfully achieved in the national context and our country is ready and willing to share its valuable experience with other countries. Thanks to the system-based measures and multilevel methods of tackling the tasks, significant progress has been also made while implementing the other SDGs. 

The book specifies the objectives of international cooperation, prospects of private-public partnerships in Turkmenistan, and major steps towards the country’s comprehensive development. Along with the data charts, it is beautifully illustrated with color photographs that capture the reality of modern life in Turkmenistan.