ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan -

On 1-4 September, the UNRCCA in co-operation with the UN System Staff College organised a workshop “Conflict Prevention: Analysis for Action” in Ashgabat. The main goal was to identify major areas of concern related to the stability in the region and to look into ways how to address them. Water and energy distribution, inter-ethnic tensions, religious extremism, terrorism, lack of good governance, natural disasters and the influence of external factors were among areas identified by participants as ones which need strong attention from the international community.

Representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of all the five CA States, different UN agencies and other international organisations such as the EU, CIS, SCO, NATO, CICA (Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia) were present at the workshop and shared their views and experience.

The UNRCCA briefed about the work of the Centre mentioning that conclusions of the workshop will be used in the process of developing a plan of action of the UNRCCA. The potential role of the UNRCCA as a political facilitator was indicated in this context.