Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Oct.10 /Trend H.Hasanov/
Turkmen president Gurbanguli Berdimuhamedow met with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres within his official visit to Switzerland, the Turkmen government reported. The meeting took place in the UN Palace of Nations in Geneva.
Berdimuhamedow stated that Turkmenistan is ready to broaden productive cooperation with UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
According to the information, in the UN representative's opinion, world society attaches great value to the purposeful activity of Ashgabat on assistance to refugees and protection of their rights.
The importance of the international conference on Refugees in the Islamic World, which took place in May of 2011, was emphasised in this regard. According to the UN representative, the Ashgabat declaration which was the outcome of the forum became an important milestone in the process.
Work on implementation of general statements of international legal acts has been carried out in Turkmenistan in recent years which contributed to the forming of a stable legislative base regulating the legal standing of refugees in Turkmenistan and guaranteeing their rights and freedoms.
The Turkmen parliament approved the law draft on Refugees in August. The grounds and procedures for the recognition of foreign citizens and stateless persons as refugees in
Turkmenistan, the economic, social and legal guarantees of protection of their rights and legal interests in accordance with the Turkmen Constitution and recognised principles and rules of international law were defined.
Last year according to the decree N 3318 of President Berdimuhamedow, people without citizenship residing on the territory of Turkmenistan were granted Turkmen citizenship.