Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Nov.12 / Trend, H. Hasanov /
The sixth session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) in Ashgabat decided to re-elect Turkmenistan as President of SPECA for 2012, the Turkmen government said on Saturday.
The UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) was launched in 1998 to strengthen sub-regional cooperation in Central Asia and its integration into the world economy
The program member countries are Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The session emphasized that Turkmenistan located at the strategic intersection of transport routes of the continent, "plays an active role in strengthening cooperation between Central Asian states and Afghanistan."
The report said that "in this context, Turkmenistan's active position in efforts to stabilize the situation and development in Afghanistan was stressed".
The Economic Forum within the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) was held in Ashgabat on these days. The forum was organized by the Turkmen Government - the acting chairman of SPECA - jointly with the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia.