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United Nations Experts’ Mission completes its visit to Arkadag City

28 February 2023

The UN mission arrived in Turkmenistan to visit, review and assess the development of new Arkadag City development based on their respective mandates.

The UN mission representing the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) arrived in Turkmenistan to visit, review and assess the development of new Arkadag City development based on their respective mandates.

Based on the request of the Turkmenistan Government, the aim of the mission was to review the urban planning, implementation and management of Arkadag City, alongside the compliance of the intended local impact with national standards for contributing to the localization of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In addition, the request to the mission was made to put forward recommendations for enhancement in future development stages of the city as well as future urban development initiatives in the country, including those associated with the digital transformation and challenges emerging from the adoption of digital and frontier technologies.

During the mission the experts had a series of meetings with colleagues from the UN development system and relevant national government officials as well as official in Ashgabat. Moreover, during two extensive site visits guided by meetings with local government representatives on site, the experts were able to monitor the process, construction methodologies and mechanisms of Arkadag City to ensure innovation for environmentally smart, economically viable, disaster resilient and sustainable urban development.

The experts recommended the efforts made to advancing the localization of the New Urban Agenda and SDGs in the new Arkadag City as a potential good practice to be shared within the regionally but also globally. The Turkmenistan approach to smart, carbon neutral and sustainable city development stands out to be proactive and people-centered, hereby promoting a better quality of life for all while preserving environmental assets. In particular, the UN experts expressed their appreciation of the outstanding efforts in sustainable Smart City development using state-of-the-art digital technologies and benefiting from all aspects of the Forth Industrial Revolution for infrastructural, environmental and economic development.

The participating UN agencies will share the comprehensive findings of the technical mission and will provide detailed recommendations to effectively implement the construction of the Arkadag City in line with the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals; efforts made in the realization of the Arkadag City vision shall inspire urban development across the whole country.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that recently, Turkmenistan joined the Group of Friends of UN-Habitat for Sustainable Urbanization and the New Urban Agenda and will cooperate on further joint initiatives towards building inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and communities in Turkmenistan.