UNDP Presents Human Development Report

More than 300 representatives of youth, government officials, public associations and international development organizations took part in the launch conference of the United Nations Development Programme Global and Regional Human Development Reports 2016.

The presentation of the reports Human Development For Everyone and Progress at Risk: Inequalities and Human Development in Eastern Europe, Turkey, and Central Asia took place in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Development of Turkmenistan.

In his opening remarks Deputy Minister of Economy and Development stressed that the goals of UNDP and the Government of Turkmenistan match, and named recent experience of adopting SDGs as one of the examples. “Increasing of the cooperation between the Government of Turkmenistan and the United Nations is the priority of the strategic development of the country. In 2016, Turkmenistan acted as a vice-chair of the 71st UN General Assembly and chairs three UN committees.”

UNDP experts delivered presentations of the reports where they underlined the importance of the informed decision making based on the high-quality data provided by the national statistical offices. The reports summarize the global trends in development conclude that the distribution of wealth around the world is not equal and there is a strong need to make sure that nobody is left behind.

In the presentation by the representative of the Ministry of Economy and Development it was stressed that starting from 2007 Turkmenistan has launched several programmes to promote equal growth of cities and rural areas and ensure that each citizen of the country has access to social services and improved lifestyle. Turkmenistan has also engaged into the process of transitioning from MDGs to SDGs and makes significant progress on improving the living of its citizens. This is one of the reasons why country is ranked as “low” on inequalities among Central Asian states.

“It is a great honor, jointly with the Ministry of Economy and Development, to launch the 2016 Global and Regional UNDP Human Development Reports. UNDP works closely with the Government of Turkmenistan to ensure that the benefits of development progress are fairly distributed and no one is left behind.  Human development for everyone requires high quality and disaggregated data and analysis to inform more targeted national policies and programs.  We believe that the development progress should be widely shared as this is essential for sustaining the foundations for peaceful, just and inclusive society.,” stated Elena Panova, UNDP Resident Representative in Turkmenistan.

UNDP advisors Ben Slay and Elena Danilova-Cross also held a lecture at the International university of humanities and development for 500 students and faculty to popularize the topic of human development and raise its importance to the students and faculty of the university.

“Human development is the criteria for economic, social and political and any other development. It is also an indicator for measuring the success of implementation of SDGs. This is why it is so important for academia to be involved as it brings up future generation,” stated Ben Slay, UNDP Senior Advisor.

It was noted that Turkmenistan is taking steps in gradual implementation of SDGs and soon there will be an SDG centre responsible for study and analysis of the implementation process.