The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited UNRCCA in Ashgabat within the framework of his official visit to Turkmenistan. During the meeting with UNRCCA staff the Secretary-General expressed his support for UNRCCA preventive efforts and urged to strengthen the capacity of preventive diplomacy in the region. The Secretary-General also met with representatives of Turkmen and international media, and made a brief statement in which he reiterated preventive diplomacy as one of his priorities. The Secretary-General welcomed the commitment of the Government of Turkmenistan to preventive diplomacy and expressed appreciation for the support provided by the Turkmen side to UNRCCA and its programmatic initiatives.