UN Friendship Games: a new international initiative in the field of sports diplomacy was discussed in Turkmenistan

In Ashgabat, at an international conference at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a new resolution "UN Friendship Games", jointly initiated by Turkmenistan and India, was discussed. The event was attended by the leadership of the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives of the diplomatic corps, public organizations and the sports community. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov, despite the widespread expression "sports outside of politics", today politics cannot exist outside of sports. He emphasized the importance of using sports as a tool for strengthening friendship and mutual understanding between peoples. As noted during the conference, Turkmenistan’s initiatives to develop a mass physical culture movement, introduce a healthy lifestyle in society, and develop sports diplomacy are finding broad support from the international community. One of the evidences of this is the unanimous adoption of the Resolution "Integration of mass cycling into public transport systems to achieve sustainable development" at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly on the proposal of Turkmenistan, as well as the announcement of Ashgabat as "City of New Sports Opportunities of the Commonwealth" at the meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS. Along with this, it should be noted that Turkmenistan was elected a member of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Culture and Sport for 2023-2027. It was emphasized that Turkmenistan, which has the legal status of neutrality, actively cooperates with specialized UN agencies and other international organizations in the areas of public health protection, popularization of healthy lifestyle principles, and the effective use of the potential of sports diplomacy to unite people in the interests of strengthening peace and prosperity.