DUSHANBE, 11.04.2017. /NIAT «Khovar»/. The Founder of Peace and National Unity — Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon received today Dr. Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Tajikistan.

Current state and prospects of cooperation between Tajikistan and UNDP was the main subject on the agenda.

Emomali Rahmon, recalling the 25th anniversary of the country’s membership in the UN, noted with satisfaction that UN agencies, including UNDP, had played a significant role in the process of establishment of peace, stability and national unity in Tajikistan.

The UN Resident Coordinator, Pratibha Mehta, for her part, highly appraised international initiatives of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon regarding solution of global problems, especially his firm stance on implementation of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

It was stressed that currently 23 funds, programs and specialized agencies of the United Nations are operating in Tajikistan and their activities are aimed at implementing social and economic projects and programs to ensure long-term and sustainable development of the republic.

In the framework of mutually beneficial cooperation through the United Nations Development Assistance Framework — UNDAF, Tajikistan will receive 363 million US dollars for the coming five years.

The parties expressed their confidence that UNDP would support Tajikistan in implementation of its mid-term and long term National Development Strategy (NDS) until 2020 — 2030, as well as regarding
implementation of objectives and tasks of water-related global initiatives of Tajikistan entitled International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018-2028.

The implementation of these programs includes improving the welfare of the population, socio-economic development, and environmental protection, ensuring universal access to electricity, and elimination of consequences of water-related disasters and disaster risk management.

Taking into account the negative situation with floods, mudflows, landslides and snow avalanches in some regions of Tajikistan, causing human casualties and significant material damage, it was proposed to develop and implement a policy of strengthening the national capacity to prevent natural disasters.

The sides also discussed the issues related to the implementation of regional energy projects, rational use of water-and-energy resources and common access to electricity.

In the field of education, the need for UNDP assistance was noted in order to reform the sphere, build and put into operation additional educational institutions, provide the population with quality education.