by Sherali Jononov

President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon took part in the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. The UN Resident Coordinator in Tajikistan Alexander Zuev said in an itnerivew, “We are very pleased that the President of Tajikistan was able to participate in this historic session of the UN Assembly. It is a special event for us for two reasons. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the UN and this 70th session of the UN Assembly. Secondly, an important forum at the highest level was conceived “From millennium development goals to sustainable development goals in the Asia-Pacific region. Not only the UN actively supports Tajikistan, but the Tajik president, the government of Tajikistan and the Tajik people actively support the UN as well. So this is a mutual process that continues to grow with the each passing day.”

No doubt speeches that were made by the Tajik head of state at the Summit on sustainable development and on a special event dedicated to the development of water cooperation were very important to us. As Zuev said, “I want to emphasise that under leadership of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, the Republic of Tajikistan is one of the leaders in developing and strengthening of regional cooperation, promotion of peace and stability, economic development and prosperity of the neighboring countries. Tajikistan actively takes part in regional cooperation with particular focus on countering security threats and handling challenges head-on, including water management and protection of environment, fighting against terrorism, human trafficking, narcotics and organised crime. Similarly the Tajik leadership is very well aware of challenges posed by emerging phenomena such as climate change, food security, and water diplomacy.”

Tajikistan is replete with water resources, fed from the glaciers of the Pamir. There were many initiatives on water issues, which prove that Tajikistan tries to develop a constructive set of rules. Such cooperation is always mutually beneficial for all participants of such initiatives. Tajikistan, along with other countries, is a member of the high level committee of friends of water. The majority of resolutions on the issues of water cooperation, adopted by the General Assembly over the past 15 years, initiated by Tajikistan. They supported a large number of countries. While most of these resolutions have 30-40 sponsors, the original author is Tajikistan, and it shows an active position of Tajikistan on issues of water cooperation at global and regional scales.

President of Tajikistan is in fact the only head of state, who since 2000 has participated in all the UN Summits, organised in New York or in other countries on the millennium development goals. It should be noted that the president also emphasised the UN about the need to stabilise the situation in Afghanistan, combating terrorism and drug trafficking. “We believe that this work is very important for Tajikistan and the world community. This part of the president’s remarks aroused great attention of the international community.”

The participation of the Tajik president in the General Assembly session is not only in the general discussions, but holding special events, positioned itself as a country that not only is cooperating very well here in Tajikistan with the UN system, but also actively brings global and regional initiatives that deserve attention. Tajikistan is actively carrying forward goals of the United Nations, especially in the fields of water and recently held international water conference in Dushanbe is a clear manifestation of Tajikistan’s strong commitment and resolve to be a credible partner of the United Nations when it comes to implementation of various UN agendas.

The head of state during his General Assembly speech reminded about the role of Tajikistan in the fight against terrorism and extremism, organised crime, illicit drug trafficking and arms smuggling, human trafficking and in the advancement of the UN water agenda, and stated that, “Our police officers are participating in the joint peacekeeping operations of the UN and the African Union in Darfur and are contributing to peace building process shoulder to shoulder with the colleagues from other member states. The Drug Control Agency that was established with the UN support, continues to play an important role in combating illicit drug trafficking. Since 1995, the Tajikistan National Drug Enforcement authorities have confiscated one hundred eleven metric tonnes of narcotics. This amount is equal to 206 million 650 thousand drug dozes, and can have turned 50 million people the world over into drug abusers.”

President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon stated that, “Tajikistan stands for expanding friendly and good neighboring relations with Afghanistan and called on the international community to support the efforts of the government to achieve peace and stability by addressing the social and economic problems, thru process of national reconciliation and dialogue and involving the country in the regional cooperation.”

President Emomali Rahmon mentioned that 2015 is the final year of the International Decade of Action ‘Water for Life, 2005-2015’ – a global project, approved by the UNGA, in support of the achievement of the MDGs. It was stressed that with the purpose of reviewing the progress and gaps during the implementation of the International Decade of Action the following events were held:

UNGA High level Interactive Dialogue on a comprehensive review of the progress during the implementation of the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life, 2005-2015’, held last March in New York.

High level International Conference on the implementation of the International water decade held in Dushanbe on June 9-10, 2015, in which heads of state and government from a number of countries participated.

The president also spoke about cooperation among the land locked countries. At the outset, Emomali Rahmon extended his appreciation to the Chair of Group; delegation of Zambia, for its tireless efforts in promoting the interests of the developing land locked countries, and described the coinciding of the particular meeting with the adoption of the new Agenda for Sustainable Development as a very important event.

President of Tajikistan stated that in order to make the measures on climate change effective, “We should consolidate our efforts at the regional and international levels.” Towards conclusion of his speech, the president said, “Within the framework of the preparation for the 21st Conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Tajikistan has prepared its own intended nationally determined contributions (INDC) that incorporates the assessment of the current situation and scenarios of further development of the country.”

President Emomali Rahmon stressed that Tajikistan will continue to actively cooperate with all countries in the region and with the UN agencies in the successful implementation of sustainable development goals.

The writer is Ambassador of Tajikistan to Pakistan