As noted in the previous materials of the article series dedicated to the upcoming Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, Turkmenistan considers holding a representative Forum in the «Avaza» National Tourist Zone as a sign of recognition of the significant contribution of our Fatherland to strengthening friendship and mutual understanding between states, establishing effective partnership formats in the political, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres.
The publication will focus on parliamentary diplomacy, which has been and remains an effective mechanism for international partnership. Interaction within this format will be the key topic of one of the seven high-level forums scheduled for August. In this regard, the emphasis is placed on the growing role of cooperation between the highest legislative bodies of the world's countries in addressing pressing issues on the global agenda.
The article pays special attention to the great importance attached by Turkmenistan to the development of inter-parliamentary contacts, which are an important factor in strengthening friendly relations between states and peoples, building up a fruitful partnership that meets common interests. As the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty Hero-Arkadag emphasises, parliamentary diplomacy promoted by Turkmenistan today should become an instrument of peace, cooperation and mutual understanding.
Speaking about the essence and character of national parliamentarism, rooted in ancient times, it should be noted that since time immemorial, Turkmens have chosen the most worthy, wise in life and state experience, responsible and far-sighted people to delegate to them the rights and powers in making the most important, fateful decisions. Based on the rich heritage of truly popular representation, Turkmenistan has ensured its continuity in modern conditions.
Today, the Mejlis is not only the legislative branch of power, but also the continuer of historical, centuries-old traditions. Its effective activity is one of the main pillars of successful state building, development of the political system, harmonious public relations, dynamic socio-economic growth.
In the era of the Revival of the new epoch of the powerful state, our Fatherland, under the leadership of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, confidently follows the creative foreign policy course laid down by the National Leader of the Turkmen people. At the same time, priority is given to the development of parliamentary diplomacy, built in accordance with the legal status of neutrality, the 30th anniversary of which is celebrated this year, proclaimed in accordance with the Resolution of the UN General Assembly as the «International Year of Peace and Trust».
In recent years, the activities of the national Parliament have reached a qualitatively new level. Along with studying the best practices of lawmaking, much attention is paid to building up international cooperation aimed at strengthening trust in interstate relations, mutual understanding and establishing equal and respectful dialogue between people of different nationalities, building bridges of intercivilisational communication.
In accordance with the peacekeeping strategy, the development and improvement of effective mechanisms for constructive partnership with specialised structures of friendly countries has been defined as a priority vector. Based on the tasks set by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov in this direction, the activities of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan cover a wide range of issues, including those related to strengthening relations with specialised structures of the United Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and other major international institutions.
A striking example of the effective use of the capabilities of parliamentary diplomacy is the inter-parliamentary friendship groups. The geography of the international relations of the Mejlis has significantly expanded in recent years. This is confirmed by the friendship groups operating on a bilateral basis with more than 40 parliaments of foreign countries. These structures serve as a permanent platform for developing relations with the legislative bodies of partner states, as well as a convenient mechanism for an open, productive dialogue with them.
The potential of the Turkmen Parliament is involved in promoting the priority positions of foreign policy and foreign economic tasks of the sovereign neutral Fatherland on global and regional platforms.
In addition, it is worth noting the priority importance attached by the Mejlis of Turkmenistan to the implementation of the philosophy of international relations «Dialogue is a guarantee of peace», put forward by the National Leader of the Turkmen people, the Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty. As is known, the essence of this initiative is to unite the efforts of the international community in strengthening the traditions of peaceful and trusting coexistence of the peoples of the planet, joint work based on dialogue and cooperation to address the global challenges of our time. Moreover, it directly echoes the initiative of the UN General-Secretary to form a New Agenda for building peace, including reducing global strategic risks, investing in conflict prevention and peacekeeping, and supporting regional preventive measures.
The great importance that our country attaches to the development of parliamentary diplomacy is confirmed by the meeting of the heads of parliaments of the member countries of the Group of Friends of Neutrality «The Role of Parliamentarians in Strengthening International Peace and Trust», held in April 2021 in a digital format, the First Inter-Parliamentary Forum of Central Asian Countries and the Russian Federation held in Ashgabat at the proposal of the Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in May 2022, as well as the meeting of the heads of parliaments of the member countries of the Group of Friends of Neutrality «The Role of Parliamentary Cooperation in Strengthening Peace and Dialogue», held in a hybrid format in February 2024.
The results of these events demonstrated that legislators, recognizing the scale of the joint potential of partnership, are ready to facilitate its implementation. This approach meets not only the strategic guidelines of the governments of many countries, but also reflects the objective needs and fundamental interests of peoples, serves their prosperity and well-being.
Speaking in general about parliamentary diplomacy, it is important to emphasise that the challenges of the time that the international community is facing require updating the mechanisms of global dialogue. In this regard, the urgent task of states is to promote the expansion of inter-parliamentary exchanges in a variety of formats, supporting constructive initiatives of parliamentarians.
At the same time, great importance is attached to enhancing the role of national parliaments in addressing pressing issues on the global agenda, in particular, in ensuring sustainable development, combating climate change and especially in expanding comprehensive cooperation for these purposes with the United Nations. Since the active position of parliamentarians is called upon to facilitate more effective coordination of efforts to implement interstate agreements within the Community of Nations. It is no coincidence that one of the main events within the Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries is a meeting of parliamentarians.
Continuing on this topic, it should be noted that parliamentary diplomacy is recognised as a conceptually important, highly sought-after and promising format of international interaction, which has been repeatedly mentioned at the high government level.
Along with this, it is recognised as an important resource in the effective implementation of national foreign policy strategies of countries, a special instrument of influence of legislative bodies on strengthening trust and mutual understanding between the states of the world, development of stable institutions. Activities in this direction contribute to finding compromise solutions to problems, preventing conflicts, and also form and improve the legal basis of international cooperation.
Parliamentary diplomacy is not only an instrument of interstate cooperation, but also a mechanism for consolidating democratic values, human rights and sustainable development. In modern conditions, efforts aimed at strengthening parliamentary institutions are of strategic importance for ensuring global peace and social justice.
At the same time, national parliaments, combining elements inherent in official and public diplomacy, use their key functions to actively engage in the process of formulating political positions by states and international organisations, as well as making specific decisions at various levels on priority issues on the global agenda.
The special role of parliamentary diplomacy is expressed in the fact that it facilitates the discussion of issues that are of vital importance to people, the identification of new points of contact and the development of relevant proposals that find broad support.
As noted above, the unconditional priority of cooperation between legislative bodies is to promote the strengthening of regional peace, stability and security. It is in this format that joint international parliamentary activity is in demand today more than ever before.
Based on this, parliamentarians strive to work proactively, putting forward new ideas and approaches aimed at finding ways to bring positions between countries closer together. In this context, considerable importance is attached to the use of channels of interparliamentary friendship groups, whose activities are focused on solving specific problems.
Extensive and constructive work is being carried out in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, including issues of food security, ecology and environmental protection, accessible medicine and education.
In order to enhance cooperation between the United Nations, national and inter-parliamentary associations, the «Avaza» Forum plans to exchange experiences on innovations in achieving the objectives outlined in the 2030 Agenda.
It is well known that economic ties play a special role in interstate relations. In this context, the objective need for countries is to establish a mutually beneficial long-term partnership.
At the same time, establishing contacts through parliamentary diplomacy is also a priority. In particular, a pressing issue of our time is the creation and implementation of mechanisms of international legal support in such strategic areas as transport, energy, industrial cooperation, etc. In this regard, parliamentarians are entrusted with making timely decisions in order to bring national legislations closer together and harmonise them, and, above all, eliminate legal barriers.
The decisive factor in the dialogue between states is cultural and humanitarian cooperation. And here, considerable importance is attached to parliamentary levers for strengthening partnership in this area, creating conditions for closer cultural interaction, creating joint educational programs and projects, contacts between the creative and scientific intelligentsia. In this context, the upcoming Forum will not only give interaction in this area the necessary creative impulses, but will ensure its consistency and enrich it with new constructive ideas.
As is known, the unchanging position of independent, permanently neutral Turkmenistan is to promote the strengthening of the UN role in the world arena in establishing equal and mutually respectful relations between countries and peoples, achieving sustainable development of states. In this regard, the upcoming multilateral meeting in «Avaza» with the participation of speakers of parliaments from different countries, as well as leaders and representatives of specialised international and regional organisations will be of great importance. After all, Turkmenistan will act as a global parliamentary platform where states with different political systems and views will be able to conduct an open and constructive dialogue. Moreover, this will be clear evidence that parliamentary diplomacy is an effective mechanism for strengthening cooperation between countries and regions.
It is expected that during the upcoming meeting of speakers there will be meaningful discussions on the development of modern parliamentarism, and clear guidelines will be defined for further joint work for the benefit of peoples and states, their economic, social and cultural development, and strengthening of friendship ties.
The participants of the meeting will be able to see for themselves the success of the far-sighted domestic and foreign policy laid down by the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Hero Arkadag, and currently pursued by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, aimed at ensuring the dynamic development of the Fatherland, increasing the well-being of the Turkmen people, and developing friendly relations with the peoples of the world. At the same time, the delegates will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the achievements of Turkmenistan, which is implementing a unique model of permanent neutrality, the 30th anniversary of which is celebrated on a grand scale in the International Year of Peace and Trust.
In general, the «Avaza» Meeting of Speakers is intended to demonstrate that the format of interparliamentary interaction has enormous potential, and the spectrum of its development is wide and diverse. In addition, the Forum is expected to become an authoritative platform for the exchange of best legislative practices and experience of parliamentary work and, most importantly, a broad platform for dialogue between representatives of the peoples of the countries participating in the meeting.
