ASHGABAT HOSTED A FORUM ON FOOD SECURITY IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
On March 9-10, 2023, a meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of the Central Asian states was held at the “Yyldyz” hotel in the capital as part of the international conference “Partnership in the field of food security in the face of climate change”. The two-days forum, held in Ashgabat on the initiative of our President, is organized by the Government of Turkmenistan jointly with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the support of the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in our country.
The meeting, held in a hybrid format, was attended by FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for Central Asia Viorel Gutu, FAO Deputy Director General, Regional Representative of this organization for Europe and Central Asia Vladimir Rakhmanin, heads of relevant ministries of Turkmenistan, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In general, the Ashgabat forum is intended to become an open platform for discussing issues of regional and global cooperation in such an important area as ensuring food security. The participation in the current meeting of representatives of authoritative international organizations and financial structures also testifies to the special relevance of this topic.
The international forum opened with a plenary session, then continued with thematic sessions. Particular attention was paid to the relationship between climate change and its direct impact on the agricultural system and ensuring food security in the countries of Central Asia and Iran, and regional aspects of cooperation in this direction were considered. A separate session was devoted to discussing the implementation of Turkmenistan's initiative to open a Regional Climate Technology Center for Central Asia under the auspices of the UN in Ashgabat. Along with this, a special role is assigned to the FAO in intensifying its further joint work with the states of Central Asia.
In this context, it is important to note that Turkmenistan is consistently developing fruitful cooperation with the United Nations and its specialized agencies, including the FAO. One of the important results of close cooperation was the holding of an international forum in Ashgabat and a number of events aimed at stimulating regional and international partnerships in the food sector.
During the meeting, topical issues of food security in the context of climate change, including the tasks of strengthening food systems, were discussed in detail.
It is also noteworthy that the impact of climate change on the food factor is bilateral. Thus, rising air temperatures and changing weather conditions create risks for the cultivation of crops.
In this regard, the study and application of the world’s best practices in the field of adaptation to climate change and mitigation of their consequences are of particular importance.
Thus, the Ashgabat forum will become an important stage on the path to further building up fruitful cooperation aimed at developing optimal solutions to the priority tasks of our time and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for the sake of general well-being and progress.
Sanjar GAYIPOV,
the 1st year student of the Faculty of International
Economic Relations of the Institute of International Relations
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.