Dushanbe, 02.10.2015. (NIAT «Khovar»). – President of Tajikistan H.E. Mr. Emomali Rahmon took part and spoke at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. UN Resident Coordinator in Tajikistan Alexander Zuev gave an exclusive interview to the correspondent of NIAT «Khovar» on the occasion of the participation and speeches at international platforms, as well as Emomali Rahmon’s initiatives:

«We are very pleased that the President of Tajikistan was able to participate in this historical Assembly session. It is a special event for us for two reasons. This year marks 70 years since the founding of the UN and the 70th session of the UNGA. Secondly, on the sidelines of the General Assembly passed a very important forum at the highest level «From the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals in the Asia-Pacific region». Not only the UN actively supports Tajikistan, but also Tajik President, the Government of Tajikistan and the Tajik people are actively supporting us. Therefore, it is a mutual process. No doubt those speeches made by the head of the Tajik state at the Summit on sustainable development and on a special event dedicated to the development of water cooperation are very important for us. UN actively supports Emomali Rahmon’s initiatives.

The President of Tajikistan except for statements in these forums, for the second time this year has met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who expressed gratitude to Emomali Rahmon for initiatives related to water issues and climate change.

In his speech, President Emomali Rahmon proposed new initiatives to promote cooperation in Central Asia in the fight against the climate change that may have a negative impact on economic and social development in the region. The President of Tajikistan supported the previous position of international development goals and the Millennium Development Goals, which operated from 2000 to 2015. These objectives are reflected in national development plans and strategies of Tajikistan approved by the Government and Parliament.

For us it is important that the development of Tajikistan is coordinated with international targets and indicators. This is another confirmation of the support of activities of the UN, which the head of state and the people of Tajikistan have the UN activities. We note with satisfaction that the President of Tajikistan is in fact the only head of state, who in 2000 took part in all UN Summit organized in New York and in other countries on the Millennium Development Goals. It should be noted that the President also noted in the UN, the need to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan, the need to combat terrorism and drug trafficking.

We believe that this is a very important area for Tajikistan and the international community. This part of the President’s speech aroused great attention of the international community. During the last week in our headquarters we had visits from more than 140 presidents and prime ministers from around the world. I think, Tajikistan, participating not only in the general discussion, and conducting special events, has positioned itself as a country that is not only very good cooperation here in Tajikistan with the UN system, but also has actively promoted global and regional initiatives that deserve attention.

All initiatives will be discussed, as they relate too many of the camp. An example of such constructive discussions under the auspices of the United Nations we saw in June this year during a conference at the end of the decade of Water Cooperation, which was held in Dushanbe. The event was attended not only by the President of Tajikistan and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and a number of heads of state from around the world. »

Regarding the recognition of Tajikistan’s leadership on water issues and the nomination of the new initiatives announced by the new decade for sustainable development of water- Zuev said: «I want to emphasize that Tajikistan is a recognized leader in this field and is recognized not only by the UN, but also other states that noted the special role of Tajikistan in this regard. Tajikistan is a source of very important water resources of Central Asia, which are fed from the glaciers of the Pamir. We know that the CA is almost half of all the water that comes into the region of Central Asia. Therefore, we understand the reasons why Tajikistan is a leader in this field. There have been many initiatives on water issues, which proves the fact that Tajikistan is trying to constructively develop rules for which country should cooperate and we believe that cooperation is always mutually beneficial for all participants in such initiatives. Tajikistan, along with other countries, is a member of the High-level friends of water group. We are pleased that most of the resolutions on water cooperation, adopted by the General Assembly over the past 15 years, were initiated by Tajikistan. They are supported by a large number of countries. While most of these resolutions have 30-40 sponsors, but the original author is Tajikistan, and it shows the active position of Tajikistan on issues of water cooperation in global and regional scale. »