THE PRESENTATION OF THE UN SPECIAL PROGRAMME FOR THE ARAL SEA BASIN WAS HELD IN THE UN ESCAP HEADQUARTERS

On August 29, 2019, the presentation of the UN Special Programme for the Aral Sea basin (UN SPAS) was held in the UN ESCAP headquarters during the Sixth Session of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction in the framework of the side event “Environment and Disasters: Closing the gap in the Asia and the Pacific region.”

The official representatives of the UN member-states delegations, experts of the UN structural agencies working in Bangkok, as well as the representatives of the public organizations and academic circles took part in the event. 

The participants were acquainted with the initiative of the President of Turkmenistan on creating the UN Special Programme for the Aral Sea basin.  During his speech at the “Rio+20” Summit in Rio de Janeiro on June 22, 2012, the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov proposed to design a Special UN Programme for saving the Aral Sea.  The role of Turkmenistan, as the country chairing the International Fund for saving the Aral Sea was underlined, as well as the significance of the upcoming multilateral consultations on determining the format of the future UN Special Programme for the Aral Sea basin.

The speech was accompanied by a video-presentation which has visually demonstrated to the audience the main steps planned by Turkmenistan that are aimed at the preparation of the multilateral consultations in the “UN-IFSAS” format and launching the pilot project of the UN Special Programme for the Aral Sea basin.

The report on the UN Special Programme for the Aral Sea basin was presented in the second half of the day, during the Sixth Session of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction that was held in the Conference-Hall of the United Nations in Bangkok.

In addition, on the sidelines of the Committee’s Session, a conversation was held with the Deputy Executive Director of ESCAP for Sustainable Development Mr.K.Zahedi who was informed about the efforts of Turkmenistan on promoting the UN Special Programme for the Aral Sea basin.