The opening ceremony of the International Conference on Migration and Statelessness: Identifying Challenges and the Way Forward organized by the Government of Turkmenistan jointly with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration took place in the conference hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.

Addressing the forum, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) William Lacy Swing and Director of International Protection at UNHCR Headquarters Volker Turk emphasized that fruitful cooperation in this area was aimed at concerting humanitarian efforts in to achieve high goals and intended to contribute to the elaboration of specific actions to protect the rights of refugees.

Stressing that the Ashgabat conference focused on not only migration issues, but also the problems of stateless persons, the guests highly evaluated the policy of Turkmenistan and expressed belief that Turkmenistan’s experience would be an example for other states to follow.

The issues on four main themes: migration and development, migration and health, migration and emergencies, migration and human trafficking were discussed during the plenary sessions.

The ceremony of presenting passports to the citizens, who had been admitted to citizenship of Turkmenistan in accordance with the Decree of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, was held at the State Migration Service of Turkmenistan in the framework of the International Conference on Migration and Statelessness: Identifying Challenges and the Way Forward.

In the afternoon, a press conference was held in the conference hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The initiative of the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to conduct the conference on the issues of global importance was highly evaluated during the press conference.

The forum will continue its work tomorrow.