Ashgabat, 21 July 2010 – Updates on latest UN reform and System-Wide Coherence issues, as well as progress on achievement of MDGs in Europe and CIS region were discussed during the UN Country Team meeting facilitated by Ms. Gina Lucarelli, Regional Coordination Specialist from UN Development Group, who visited Ashgabat to participate in the annual meeting of UN Coordination Officers from Europe and the CIS.

The meeting discussions focused on the outcome of recent important events such as the High-Level Tripartite Conference on “Delivering as One: Lessons from Country-led Evaluations and Way Forward” which took place in Hanoi on 14-16 June 2010 and “MDG+10 Review Conference for Europe and CIS” organized in Istanbul on 9-10 June 2010.

UNCT members also listened to the experience of One UN Programme for Albania, the only One UN Pilot Office in this region, building up on which other countries of the region have embarked on their ‘Delivering as One’ initiatives.

In the course of discussions, it has been stressed that the region has a unique development path and experience with lots of progress already made to achieve certain millennium development goals. However, participants also agreed that significant efforts are required to achieve all MDGs by 2015 and sustain those which were already achieved.

Other important issues that UN Country Team members extensively talked about included issues of management and accountability, the role of UN System in the middle-income countries, joint programmes and support of the Regional Directors’ Team to the UN Country Teams.