Turkmenistan in 2020, despite the problems associated with the coronavirus pandemic, continued to develop multilateral cooperation with international organizations, paying special attention to strengthening its legal framework.
As an active member of the international community, implementing generally accepted international norms and recommendations in national legislation and policy, the country is a party to the 161st convention, treaties and other multilateral documents. In order to realize them, 217 projects were implemented in cooperation with the representative offices of international organizations accredited to Turkmenistan in 2020.
At a government meeting on December 25, new proposals were made to strengthen the legal framework for cultural and humanitarian relations with international structures.
This is primarily UNESCO, where Turkmenistan is already a party to 10 conventions and multilateral treaties. As a result of the joint work carried out by the state bodies of the country, it is currently proposed to ratify two UNESCO conventions.
One of them is the Convention against Discrimination in Education, adopted in 1960, which is the only international document promoting the principles of equal access to compulsory primary and secondary education, higher education and equal opportunities in education for everybody.
To date, 104 states are parties to it.Another is the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, adopted in 2005, which provides for such important tasks as the protection and promotion of various forms of cultural identity, the mutual enrichment of cultures, as well as the expansion of cultural dialogue in the world. 148 states are parties to this document.
A proposal to join the Patent Law Treaty adopted by World Intellectual Property Organization in 2000 has been intended to further expand Turkmenistan’s relations with WIPO, which the country is bound with by 14 international conventions and multilateral documents.
Being a multilateral document, the Treaty is intended for rapid and simplified monitoring of applications for patent documents that provide legal protection of industrial designs and inventions.
Turkmenistan, which is a party to 10 documents of the International Labor Organization, also plans to ratify the 122nd Convention “On Employment Policy”, which was adopted by the ILO in 1964 and 148 countries of the world became parties to it.
This document is aimed at increasing the employment level of population, meeting the needs of the labor market in the work force and maintaining the balance of supply, as well as effective management of labor reserves and increasing foreign policy activities in this area.
Consistent steps to strengthen the legal framework of Turkmenistan’s multilateral international contacts were taken during this year in other areas as well.Thus, in August, at the regular session of the National Parliament, 6 international documents on transport issues were ratified, in connection with which proposals on Turkmenistan’s accession to the International Convention on simplification and harmonization of customs procedures (Kyoto Convention) were submitted at the government meeting.
As part of the digitalization of the transport segment of the national economy, a project of the UN Development Program is being implemented to introduce the ASYCUDA WORLD integrated customs information system in the country.
In this regard, together with UNDP, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and relevant state institutions of Turkmenistan prepared a draft Memorandum on the phased implementation of the Single Window Project on export-import operations.
In order to effectively implement the country’s sports policy, there were prepared proposals to expand the specialized legal base for international sports cooperation.
As a party to the Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic symbol and the International Convention against doping in sport, Turkmenistan considered the issues of accession to the European Convention (adopted in 2014, Switzerland), as well as the preparation of Memoranda of Cooperation with the International Sambo and Tennis Federations, the NOC of the People’s Republic of China, the Sports and Olympic Committee of the Republic of Korea.