SPECA ECONOMIC FORUM TAKES PLACE VIRTUALLY

Today, representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security of the Population, the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan have participated in the Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) Forum on Regional Cooperation to Support Socioeconomic Recovery in the Wake of COVID-19, which is taking place via videoconferencing.

The virtual event was co-organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

Heads and leading specialists of authoritative international organizations, including the United Nations and its bodies, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), representatives of large financial institutions, as well as delegations of the SPECA member-states, including Turkmenistan, are among those taking part in the two-day forum.

As highlighted, our country, which is actively pursuing its peaceful foreign policy initiated by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, attaches great significance to fostering closer cooperation with all interested states and leading global organizations, first and foremost with the United Nations.

The SPECA Days’ events Turkmenistan successfully hosted in November of 2019 as the SPECA Chair country, served as a clear illustration of our country’s active participation in tackling the key regional and global issues, establishing new forms of international cooperation in the light of present-day conditions and global trends.

Today, our country is actively involved in a number of programs launched in different spheres by the international community to successfully implement the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia aims to enhance the sub-regional cooperation and facilitate the integration into the global economy. The SPECA member states include Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Ensuring reliable transport connections and building effective transit corridors, including in the SPECA region are seen as one of the prospective areas of common interest for each participating country, the forum participants stressed.

As noted, the SPECA member countries are interested in maintaining and developing trade-economic relations in the region as well as with their main trade partners in the post-pandemic period. Special emphasis was placed on the need to simplify cross-border trade and to adopt other effective measures aimed at ensuring convenient and safe transit traffic, and consequently, sustainable value chains.

Building the digital economy, the Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stresses, has an important role to play in implementing the 2030 Global Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, which should remain the focus of social and economic recovery efforts in the post-pandemic period.

On the second day, the forum participants will deliver special reports on the realization of digital potential in trade and transport, digital corridors and single-window systems in accordance with the UN standards, and on intellectual development.

The economic policies, fiscal and monetary measures, and funding strategies adopted by the SPECA countries since the Covid-19 pandemic began will be a special topic of discussion.

The Economic Forum will continue its work tomorrow. Its outcomes will be announced at the 15th session of the SPECA Governing Council on November 20.

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