TURKMENISTAN AND IAEA DISCUSS PRACTICAL STEPS TO STRENGTHEN PARTNERSHIP

On June 7, 2023, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan on the preparation of the IAEA Framework Program for Turkmenistan (CPF), which was attended by the leadership of ministries and state agencies of our country, senior representatives of the IAEA.

During the working meeting, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs M.Byashimova emphasized that the cooperation of Turkmenistan with international organizations is developing in various directions, which are reflected in the relevant national and multilateral documents. At the same time, a solid experience in the development and implementation of Country Programs, which are successfully implemented with UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and other international structures, was noted.

In frames of the discussion on the preparation of the CPF, the participants stated that during the preliminary development of the draft of this program, special attention was paid to the priority areas identified in the "National Program for Socio-Economic Development in 2022-2052" and "The Concept of the foreign policy course of neutral Turkmenistan for 2022-2028", which include medicine, rational water resources management, food security, agriculture, environmental protection, safe management of radiation materials and equipment and development of the legal framework in these areas in accordance with international standards.

In this context, during the meeting, the main areas of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the IAEA for the coming years, enshrined in the preliminary draft of the Country Program, were considered in detail.

Along with this, the parties noted the importance of active involvement of all relevant ministries and state agencies of Turkmenistan in the further process of preparing the CPF, setting clear goals and objectives, as well as appointing a coordinator from the Turkmen side.

A Country Program Framework (CPF) is a tool agreed by a Member State and the IAEA to strategically plan a proposed program of technical cooperation activities in a Member State over a specified period of time. Member States are responsible for and lead the development of the CPF, while the IAEA provides the necessary guidance and support in the development of the CPF.