UN Coordination Specialists from Europe and CIS countries meet in Ashgabat Ashgabat, 16 July 2010 – On 7-9 July 2010, the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan hosted the annual regional meeting of UN coordination specialists from Europe and the CIS. They met in Ashgabat to discuss recent developments at the global and regional level and exchange views and experiences on various UN coordination issues such as Delivering as One, Joint Programming, UN system-wide coherence, joint communications and others.
The meeting brought together coordination specialists from Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine as well as representatives from the UN Development Operations Coordination Office and the UN Development Group.
 It was for the first time that the UN coordination specialists met in Turkmenistan, which along with many other countries of the region is classified as a middle-income country. The experience of UN’s work in middle-income countries was of particular interest for the participants due to existing challenges and new emerging opportunities for the UN system in the context of these particular countries. This topic was also interesting in terms of re-positioning the UN’s development support in such a diverse and dynamically developing region.
Building on this opportunity, the UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan Mr. Lenni Montiel briefed the regional meeting participants on the development prospective for UN in Turkmenistan and shared the first-hand experience of the United Nations’ engagement with the Government of Turkmenistan to support national development goals and priorities. He emphasized that the United Nations system in Turkmenistan maintains an excellent level of cooperation with the Government of Turkmenistan.
 In the course of the three-day meeting, the coordination specialists reviewed the conclusions and recommendations of their last meeting in Tbilisi in 2009, got an update on the strategic priorities of the UN Development Group for 2010-2011 and shared their views on the opportunities and challenges for UN coherence in the middle-income countries. The discussions also focused on the UNDAF process from the roll-out countries, general issues of UN coordination, implementation of joint programmes, accelerating progress to the MDGs, harmonized approach to cash transfers, interagency contingency planning and other issues.
“The meeting produced a number of substantive results. We discussed important new developments on the global level, namely the new UNDG strategic priorities and the new UNDAF guidelines and progress reporting guidelines. Overall, the meeting provided a unique experience to exchange experiences and best practices on key coordination issues that are common to all Resident Coordinator Offices. It has been very valuable and is expected to reinforce and strengthen my work,” said Mark McGinty from Macedonia.
 Some of the sessions such as Joint UN Advocacy and Communications were attended by staff of UN agencies working in Turkmenistan who interacted with their UN colleagues and shared best practices in the sphere of UN communications at the country level. The UN coordination specialists also had a chance to discuss recent developments with DOCO Associate Director Ashok Nigam trough a teleconference on issues relating to System-Wide Coherence and the functioning of One UN Pilots.
“The regional meeting was a perfect opportunity for us to expand knowledge by engaging in an exchange of experience with other coordination officers on challenges, failures and successes and sharing innovative and unique ideas for promoting UN coherence at the country level. And also, presence of DOCO representatives, both at the event itself, and through teleconference allowed coordination officers to direct burning issues to the higher levels,” said Bokhtar Bakozade from Tajikistan.
 The UN colleagues also toured the city of Ashgabat, including the UN House in Turkmenistan, as part of the cultural program of their visit to Turkmenistan. They viewed famous sites of Ashgabat, including the grand mosque in Kipchak and the mausoleum of the first president of Turkmenistan, and the historical monument – the fortress of Nissa.
During the meeting, participants were also interviewed by National TV Channel Four and could share their views and impressions of the meeting and visit to Ashgabat. “Overall, the meeting in Ashgabat was a success due to active participation of all coordination officers and certainly due to the great support and initiative taken by the UN team in Turkmenistan,” concluded Arina Flyugova from Russia.
Regional meetings of UN coordination specialists are conducted every year and hosted by one of the countries of the Europe and CIS region. The meetings provide a unique opportunity for coordination professionals to discuss latest developments on global, regional and country levels, as well as share best practices and lessons learnt in many areas.
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