On November 26, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov met with the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Ashgabat to participate in the Global Sustainable Transport Conference. Greeting the distinguished guest, the head of state said that it was a great pleasure to once again welcome in Ashgabat the leader of the United Nations Organization, with which our country is tied by the over-year experience of fruitful cooperation of the strategic nature. The UN Secretary-General emphasized that he also was very pleased to have one more opportunity to be on a visit in Turkmenistan, to the cooperation with which the United Nations attaches great attention. Expressing sincere gratitude for warm welcome and hospitality, as well as for such a generous donation as a new office building for the UN Mission in Ashgabat, Ban Ki-moon noted that without such an active assistance and support, the activities of the organization he leads would not have been so productive and successful in our country. During the meeting, the Turkmen leader and the high guest discussed the prospects of furthering the Turkmenistan-UN partnership and encouraging further the all-round strengthening and stepping up constructive cooperation, including in such priority areas as achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Special consideration was given to the most important aspects of cooperation in the transport and communications sector, which is regarded as one of the key segments of the global economy and as an integral factor of the sustainable development that has a direct impact on the stability and balance of the global economic relations. Speaking of the urgency of the issues of the Global Sustainable Transport Conference’s agenda, Mr. Ban Ki-moon extended to the head of state words of gratitude for creating excellent condition for holding the forum in Ashgabat. In the course of conversation, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov expressed gratitude to the United Nations leader for supporting Turkmenistan’s international initiatives, notably for choosing the Turkmen capital as the headquarters of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia. Turkmenistan also attaches great importance to the partnership with the United Nations in the issues of climate change and environment protection. Our country has signed the “Paris Agreement” on climate change - a final document of the last year’s December forum which was held in the capital of France. The talk is about opening in Ashgabat of the Regional Technologies Centre to deal with the climate changes in Central Asia and the Caspian region. During the meeting, it was also stressed that Turkmenistan’s contribution to the peaceful development and socio-economic infrastructure restoration in neighboring Afghanistan had a positive impact on the situation in the region as a whole. Underscoring the strategic character of partnership with the United Nations as one of the most influential and authoritative international organizations, the President of Turkmenistan confirmed our country’s readiness for further active and goal-oriented teamwork with the UN and its specialized agencies in all areas of mutual interest. At the end of meeting, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and the high-ranking guest expressed confidence in furthering the over-year successful cooperation, having stressed that the constructive dialogue in the UN format is capable to set proper vectors of joint activities for the United Nations member-states, and directly contribute to the development of the required concrete measures to address the priority issues of the modern epoch. The meeting was attended by Mr. Wu Hongbo, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, and Mr. Miroslav Jenca, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs.