Press Release

UN and Government of Turkmenistan hold the third meeting of the Joint Working Group on socio-economic impact of COVID-19

26 August 2020

UN/Government of Turkmenistan joint working group (JWG) on socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Turkmenistan convened for its 3rd meeting to discuss the progress made within Turkmenistan’s immediate socio-economic response plan to acute infectious disease pandemic, which was adopted by a Presidential Resolution of 3 July 2020.

During the meeting it was noted that the Plan was developed in line with the UN framework for the Immediate Socio- Economic Response to COVID-19 and is aligned with key national development programmes, such as the National Programme on Socio-Economic Development of Turkmenistan for 2019-2025 and others.

“It is necessary to emphasize the Plan is focused on helping the most vulnerable groups of the population and economic sectors to overcome the socio-economic impact of the pandemic” noted Ms. Elena Panova, UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan.

In the course of discussions, representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Central Bank and the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population of Turkmenistan informed the participants about the actions taken so far with regard to the implementation of the Plan, for example actions related to ensuring food security, introduction of community based social services, providing debt repayment deferrals for SMEs, promotion of digital payment systems, introduction of online registration of SMEs and others.

The UN agencies also informed the members of the JWG about their work to reprogramme ongoing interventions to enhance and tailor their support for the implementation of the Plan, which is also a priority for the UN development system in the country. It was also noted that the UN Country Team in Turkmenistan is actively engaging in global UN system initiatives to mobilize additional funding to support the implementation of the Plan.

UNDP as the technical lead from the UN on the implementation of Socio-economic response plan proposed the development of the system of monitoring to track the progress of realization of the Plan.

Concluding the meeting, participants agreed to continue the dialogue under the joint JWG and have periodic consultations between the UN Agencies, IFIs and relevant ministries on timely and effective implementation of the Plan.