Ashgabat, 27 February 2019: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) together with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and Youth Organization of Turkmenistan implement a regional project on “Strengthening Community Resilience and Regional Cooperation to Prevent Violent Extremism in Central Asia” funded by the Government of Japan.  As part of the project, UNDP, Hedayah International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, and partners from the Government of Turkmenistan got together to discuss existing world experience and ongoing actions in Turkmenistan in prevention of violent extremism.

"Around 100 people die every day from terrorism actions. Unfortunately, the region of Central Asia is not secure from this threat. We hope that the initiative as today will help promote peace and security in our region by combating violent extremism," noted Natia Natsvlishvili, UNDP RR a.i.

Representatives of the Hedayah International Center provided their research findings on the violent extremism, its main origins and importance of each actor such as state, public associations and private sector in dealing with extremism.

“The issues of extremism and terrorism combat are relevant to every country. The most effective ways of dealing with them is through preventive measures, building tolerance and understanding of multiculturalism. Turkmenistan undertook a series of actions to prevent extremism and terrorism through strengthening borders, fight with drugs and guns smuggling and trade. Our cooperation with UNDP promises new perspectives for cooperation,” stated representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.

Representatives of 10 national ministries and agencies discussed ongoing UNDP, Hedayah and Turkmenistan's efforts and expressed their commitment to the agreed further actions in the area of prevention of violent extremism.

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The project’s overall objective is to mobilize youth’s energy, mobility, open-mindedness and dynamics as a potential positive driving force in countering violent extremist influences and narratives.  The project strategy is to improve social, political and economic inclusion of youth by supporting the development of their professional and business skills, as well as creating multilateral interactive platforms in collaboration with the existing youth councils, local governance bodies and civil society to enforce regular dialogue and engage more youth in the process.