Ashgabat, 21 January 2009

Your Excellency Mr. Akmuradov,

Dear participants and colleagues,

Let me welcome you to this first National Inter-Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Change. I believe that today is a very important day for Turkmenistan, as we initiate a new chapter in the development of the country.  The issues of global warming and climate change are, of course, not new to us. However, it is now realized that climate change not only has an environmental dimension but has serious socio-economic and even political, implications at global, regional and national levels.

It is now proven that human activity contributes to climate change through a whole range of sectors – energy, agriculture, manufacturing and production and others. Actions by individuals, including driving a car and using utilities and household appliances, in sum total form a huge catalyst for further climate change. Indeed, the current status of climate change will remain irreversible for a long-term period of time and compels us not only to continue our mitigation efforts but also to start adaptation of the key sectors to climate change.

This is why we gathered here for the next two days to recognize the significance of climate change, reinforce our commitments to mitigation and adaptation to climate change,  and agree on the steps that we should undertake at the country level to build our knowledge and expertise and develop targeted action plans.

At the last United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in Bali in December 2007, governments reaffirmed that economic and social development and poverty eradication are global priorities. They also stressed the need for enhanced technology, and financing and policy options, to support developing countries in mitigating and adapting to climate change in the context of their sustainable development. The meeting resulted in a “Bali Action Plan” focusing on these four main building blocks – mitigation, adaptation, technology and financing. A timetable was established under the Kyoto Protocol, with detailed steps to be taken to complete negotiations on the new emission reduction targets for industrialised countries by 2009.  In addition, a number of decisions were taken at Bali that are highly important for all developing countries and countries in transition, such as the implementation of the Adaptation Fund, the launch of a framework to support technology transfer, a process to promote efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation, and guidance to the Clean Development Mechanism.

Now, I am very pleased that, in this context, Turkmenistan has been selected as one of the countries to implement the global project on strengthening national capacity of developing countries to develop policy options for addressing climate change across different sectors and economic activities. The goals and objectives of this project, as well as the Bali road map and the results of the Bali meeting, will be presented to you by our experts during these two days. We are fortunate to have our UNDP colleagues from the Bratislava Regional Centre here with us at this meeting, as well as high-level experts and consultants, and they will continue to facilitate the process in Turkmenistan to help the project achieve its targets. We will certainly benefit from their expertise and experience.  Furthermore, UNDP in Turkmenistan is ready to assist the Government of Turkmenistan in designing a national adaptation strategy this year through expertise and resources that can be mobilized using the global UNDP network.

UNDP has in fact established a MDG Carbon Facility to ensure that carbon projects contribute to sustainable development and to reaching the MDGs at country level. Thus, carbon projects will help us develop and run other socially important projects, such as enhancing education in schools or improving quality of health care or promoting employment opportunities and so on.

Let me say finally that, as we know, Turkmenistan is a major energy producer possessing huge potential for carbon finance projects, especially in its oil and gas sector. These could involve, for example, utilization of associated gas and minimization of natural gas losses in oil and gas production and transportation facilities. UNDP aims to assist Turkmenistan to adopt climate-friendly policies and mechanisms as a result of which we hope that carbon finance could be introduced in the country this year. This would allow the application of modern energy-efficient technologies and the receipt of substantial financial revenue from sales of emission reductions. It’s really a win-win situation for Turkmenistan and the environment.

With these words I wish you a very productive two-day workshop and I look forward to the outcomes of the meeting.

Thank you.