Turkmen parliamentarians took part in the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
A delegation of the Turkmen parliament, headed by Chairman of Mejlis of Turkmenistan Akja Nurberdyeva, is heading to St. Petersburg to take part in the work of 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the State News Agency (TDH) reports.
The main theme of the forum, which will be held from October 14th to 18th in the Tavricheskiy Palace, the Parliamentary Center and ExpoForum, is the promotion of cultural pluralism and peace through interreligious and interethnic dialogue.
The Turkmen authorities consider that the international parliamentary event is of particular importance for our country, as the process of development of national legislation in the current Turkmenistan is under the norms of international law.
Turkmen Leader Berdimuhamedov attaches special importance to the parliament to create the legal conditions for the formation of institutions of civil society, multi-party system (there are currently three parties in the country), the protection of rights and freedoms of citizens, increasing their legal culture.
Thus, in addition to the modernization of the Constitution, the post of Authorized Representative for Human Rights was created in Turkmenistan.
President Berdymukhamedov assigns a big role of the local parliamentary support for the reforms he had carried out since he headed the state. The Turkmen Leader sees the main aim of these reforms as improving the welfare of the population and accelerating the development of the economy.
Last but not least, the law on free economic zones was adopted. This legal instrument, according to observers, will increas the investment activity of foreign partners, and integrate the country into the system of world economic relations.
According to the local authorities, one of the main tasks of the national parliament is in promoting a number of Turkmen initiatives to solve the global problems of our time.
The practical impact of the Mejlis activity in the foreign policy field is demonstrated by the number of inter-parliamentary groups established jointly with colleagues from abroad, as well as organizing a dialogue with the international and regional organizations - the UN, the OSCE, the CIS, etc.
Recently, President Berdymukhamedov had a working visit to Russia, where he addressed a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State in Sochi. There he stated that his country, despite its associated membership in the CIS, supported “further cooperation within the Commonwealth, to participate in mutually beneficial political, trade-economic, cultural and humanitarian relations to strengthen cooperation for achieving the advancement of our peoples and states.”
It is important that the position voiced by the first person of the state is clear and unequivocal.
Let's remember that last month the Turkmen capital was visited by V.Matvienko, the third person of the Russian state. Valentina Ivanovna, being the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, met with the President of Turkmenistan and with the colleagues from the local parliament.
Four months earlier, at the Nevsky International Ecological Congress, she met with the head of one of the committees of the Turkmen parliament, during which she invited the Turkmen delegation to take part in the upcoming Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. At the same time V.Matvienko, voicing the position of the Russian side, spoke in terms of the fact that Russia wishes to see Turkmenistan as “a full-fledged participant in the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union of the Commonwealth”.
The speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, referring to the Agreement on Cooperation between the Council of the Federation of the Russian Federation and the Mejlis of Turkmenistan signed in Ashgabat in December 2015, expressed confidence that inter-parliamentary meetings at the level of committees within the working groups “should take a special place in the system of co-ordination of parliamentary cooperation”.
It is clear that such meetings “within the framework of working groups” could be held on a regular working basis in the future.
The mass media noticed that the members of Mejlis at the Nevsky International Ecological Congress, representing Turkmenistan as the Chairman of the Interstate Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS), participated in the Round Table on “Current problems and the possible future of the Aral Sea”. And environmental diplomacy, as is known, is one of the priorities of President Berdymukhamedov's foreign policy strategy.
The activity of the Mejlis in the Russian-Turkmen space was not limited to participation in the ecological congress in St. Petersburg. Before that, Turkmen parliamentarians participated in the International Economic Summit in Kazan on the very topical subject “Russia - the Islamic World”.
But let's return to the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Already before its beginning it became known that it would be the most representative in the history of its existence.
Therefore, many people took the statement of V. Matvienko, according to which the 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union “will make a significant contribution to the development of the global inter-parliamentary dialogue” with great support and understanding.
