Ashgabat, 18 August 2010 – The international workshop on interagency cooperation on population and development issues was organized by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, in collaboration with the Institute of Strategic Planning and Economic Development of Turkmenistan on 11 August 2010 in Grand Turkmen Hotel.  

The workshop was facilitated by Mr. Sergiu Sainchuk, Deputy Minister of Labour, Social Protection and Family of Republic of Moldova, Mr. Ulan Kasymbekov, member of the Parliament of Republic of Kazakhstan, and the representatives of the UNFPA offices in Turkmenistan, Moldova and Russia.  The representatives of Mejlis (Parliament) of Turkmenistan, State Statistics Committee of Turkmenistan, ministries of Economy and Development, Education, Social Welfare, Healthcare and Medical Industry, National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan and Women’s Union of Turkmenistan participated in the workshop.

At the opening session, Mr. Lenni Montiel, UNFPA Representative in Turkmenistan, stated that 179 countries, including Turkmenistan, adopted the Program of Action at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, which has radically changed the international community’s approach to the interlinked challenges of population and development, putting human  beings and human rights, rather than population numbers and growth rates, at the centre of the equation. What makes the  Cairo consensus work in practice is that each country decides for itself which actions and policies to carry out, based on its own priority needs, cultural imperatives and values.

The workshop participants gained an opportunity to get familiarized with various approaches of interagency cooperation in implementation of the population policies by example of Moldova, Kazakhstan and Russia.

Mr. Sergiu Sainchuk shared with the participants of the workshop the experience of the Republic of Moldova in implementing the demographic policies.  He particularly emphasized the work of the National Committee for Population and Development, established under the Government of the Republic of Moldova with support of UNFPA Country Office.  

Mr. Ulan Kasymbekov shared the work experience of the Social Council under the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Mr. Aleksandr Mordovin, the UNFPA Program Advisor in Russia, shared the experience of the Council established under the President of Russian Federation on implementation of priority national projects and demographic policies, with the objective of examining the issues related to the demographic policy, analysis of implementation and assessment of measures, directed to solving the problems in the area of demographic policy, as well as the preparation of the proposals on enhancement of the activities in this area.  

Throughout the discussions the workshop participants agreed that in order to address the population and development issues it is indispensable to take into account the multidirectional factors influencing the demographic situation, their social significance, which calls for a comprehensive inter-ministerial approach.

The workshop participants also discussed the possibility of establishing the inter-ministerial body in Turkmenistan on implementing the programs and plans on population and development issues.  The recommendations on inter-ministerial cooperation in this area are to be prepared based on the results of the workshop.  



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