Turkmenistan wants the establishment of a UN Energy Council to provide
stable supplies of energy, Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly
Berdimuhamedov said at a UN summit for Millennium Development Goals in
New York, RIA Novosti reports.
He said at the 65th session of the UN General Assembly that the
Turkmenistan delegation plans to present a resolution project on an
international mechanism for stable supplies of energy and energy
resources and to consider the establishment of an Energy Council in
the future.
The energy issue is actively being discussed at the summit, although
it is not one of the Millennium Development Goals, registered in 2000
by leaders of all countries in the Millennium Declaration.
None the less, some believe that without access to modern sources of
energy, the realization of Millennium Development Goals is impossible.
The head of the World Bank Robert Zellik pointed out that access to
energy resources is the key factor to the goals in many spheres, for
example in education.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that development of the
universal access to energy for 2030 program is being developed by a
special expert commission, formed by the secretary general.
Concerning ecological problems, the Turkmen president noted the
problem of the Aral Sea and the restoration of natural resources in
the Caspian. He proposed the establishment of an international expert
group to prepare an international legal document to save the Aral Sea.
Berdimuhamedov also considered the situation in Central Asia. He
proposed a high-ranking international meeting under the auspices of
the UN to improve trust in Afghanistan.
The Millennium Development Goals include the eradication of hunger and
poverty; primary education all over the world; improvement of women's
rights; reductions in child mortality; improvement of mothers' health;
fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, as well as ecological
stability. The declaration sets out the goal of improving indicators
in other spheres by 2015.
