Ashgabat, 25 November 2020: UN, Government of Turkmenistan joint working group (JWG) on socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Turkmenistan held its fourth meeting to discuss the progress of implementation of the Social-Economic Response Plan to the Covid-19 pandemic and to exchange views on the availability of statistical data for its timely and high-quality implementation.

The members of the JWG represented by  national ministries, including the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Central Bank, Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan, UN agencies as well as international financial institutions shared their updates on the progress made in the implementation of the Socio-Economic Response Plan since its adoption in July 2020.

“The Socio-Economic Response Plan provides important short-term measures to prevent the negative impact of the pandemic on the socio-economic situation in Turkmenistan, the effective implementation of which are believed to  create solid foundation for building back better in the post-pandemic period and accelerate the achievement of SDGs.” noted Ms. Elena Panova, UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan.

UNDP as the technical lead from the UN side on the implementation of Socio-economic response plan presented the monitoring table designed to track progress of implementation of the Plan, which also integrated global socio-economic response monitoring indicators proposed by the UN. The availability of disaggregated data was highlighted by the participants as important to ensure effective monitoring and accelerate the implementation of joint activities within the Socio-Economic Response Plan. UNDP has in this regard proposed to organize a follow-up expert level webinar on reporting on the implementation of the Socio-Economic Response Plan.

The UN agencies in Turkmenistan and the representatives of International Financial Institutions (ADB, EBRD and World Bank) reiterated their readiness to continue and expand their assistance to Turkmenistan in promoting sustainable recovery from the impact of the global pandemic, as well as in the implementation of the SDGs, both under the Socio-Economic Response Plan and under the new Cooperation Framework between the UN and the Government of Turkmenistan for 2021-2025.

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.