UNIPATH STAFF
Turkmen officials embraced regional security initiatives during a visit by a multinational NATO delegation in October 2014. Senior officials from several Turkmen ministries and departments, including the Ministry of Defense, the Executive Office of the President and the State Border Service, hosted the NATO officials in Ashgabat.
The delegations discussed enhancing cooperation with the framework of the Partnership for Peace (PfP), a program that Turkmenistan helped create. Though Turkmenistan has maintained a strict policy of neutrality since independence, the country has striven to work with partners in the common interest of peace and security. In this spirit, delegates discussed the evolving security situations in areas of mutual interest, including Afghanistan.
A few days later Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov announced that the country plans to re-equip and modernize its Armed Forces. These reforms were aimed at allowing Turkmenistan’s military to improve its capacity to help build regional security.
The NATO delegation also attended Turkmenistan’s 23rd Independence Day celebration, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of the founding of the PfP.