Turkmenistan holds discussions with representatives of UNHCR

A meeting with representatives of the regional representative office of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for Central Asia was held at the State Migration Service of Turkmenistan, Trend reports referring to the representative office.

The parties expressed confidence in expanding the partnership between Turkmenistan and UNHCR.

"As a full member of the global community, Turkmenistan adheres to generally accepted norms of international law and as a neutral state puts forward peace-loving and humanistic initiatives, supporting international principles for the development of friendly and good-neighborly relations," the information reads.

It is also emphasized that as a permanent member of the Executive Committee of the UNHCR, Turkmenistan pursues its state policy in accordance with its obligations under the conventions.

As stated, the UNHCR expressed gratitude to Turkmenistan for the work done to reduce the number of stateless persons. Last year, 735 people who were permanently residing in the territory of Turkmenistan, had no citizenship and were representatives of different nationalities became Turkmen citizens. Between 2011-2017, 8,145 people were accepted into the citizenship of Turkmenistan.

The UNHCR approved a global plan of action to eradicate statelessness for the period 2014-2024 in November 2014, which was enshrined in a resolution of the UN General Assembly.