Activities of Secretary-General in Turkmenistan, 12-14 June

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres travelled to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, from Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Monday evening, 12 June.

The next morning, the Secretary-General met with President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

On Tuesday afternoon, he participated in a high-level dialogue on implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia.

In his speech, he said that it was absolutely essential to ensure that initiatives to prevent and curtail violent extremist tendencies fully comply with international human right standards, with an active, inclusive, vibrant and free civil society being a critical cornerstone of a comprehensive response.  (See Press Release SG/SM/18569.)

Following that event, the Secretary-General visited the United Nations House in Turkmenistan where he met with staff working in the country, as well as the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).

He then hosted an official dinner for the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the five Central Asian States he visited over the week.

The Secretary-General left Ashgabat early on Wednesday, 14 June, for a visit to Kabul, Afghanistan.