UN prepared to help Central Asia manage water, energy resources.

ASHGABAT, April 3 (Itar-Tass) -- The United Nations is prepared to
work with the countries of Central Asia in addressing their problems in
managing natural, water and energy resources, UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon said in Ashgabat on Friday. He was speaking at the UN Center for
Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia.

Ban Ki-moon began his fact-finding tour of the region with
Turkmenistan. On Friday he had a meeting with President Gurbanguli
Berdymukhamedov and held a number of meetings at the regional center for
preventive diplomacy, established in 2007 and headquartered in Ashgabat.
In Central Asia there exist common tasks, common problems and common
responsibilities, Ban said. Of course, there are different positions, for
instance those regarding the use of natural and water resources, and also
other resources, such as oil and gas. These issues can be addressed only
on the basis of mutual understanding and cooperation. The United Nations
will be prepared to work along these lines, in particular, through the
regional center for preventive diplomacy for Central Asia based in
Ashgabat, Ban said.
About the importance of the Ashgabat center in establishing
partnership with countries in Central Asia Ban said that its activity
regarding such major issues as the prevention of terrorism and
trans-border crimes, illegal human trafficking and some other modern
challenges.
He said he was glad to see the center's close cooperation with other
international organizations, such as the OSCE, the CIS and others. The
challenges of today are very complicated for each individual country and
for each organization. They cannot be countered on one's own. There has to
be coordination and partnership.

.UN's Ban Ki-moon recognizes Turkmenistan's progress in human rights.

ASHGABAT, April 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Over the past three years
Turkmenistan has achieved progress in the development of civil society and
the observance of human rights, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a
news briefing following a meeting with Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli
Berdymukhamedov on Friday.
Ban arrived in Ashgabat on Thursday. Turkmenistan was the first leg of
his fact-finding tour of Central Asia. He will be also visiting
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
Turkmenistan is in the phase of transition towards creating a civil
society and genuine democracy, Ban said in his statement at the UN Center
for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia. When he rose to power (in
2007), Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov took a number of very important measures
to develop the country in all respects found on the United Nations'
agenda, Ban said, adding that those were not static measures, but an
onward-moving process and that he was very pleased to see that those
measures were being implemented at an ever-faster pace.
Turkmenistan is on the right track. It is doing its utmost to
implement the Millennium Development goals and by 2015 it may well achieve
them, Ban said.
Under its previous leader, Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan was often
strongly criticized by the United Nations and other major international
organizations for human rights abuse.
The years of Berdymukhamedov's presidency have seen a number of
resolute social and economic reforms, including those of pensions and
education. The national currency, the manat, has undergone
re-denomination, and a standard exchange rate was established. A new
constitution was promulgated to set course towards a market economy. The
Academy of Sciences has been restored, opera productions brought back on
stage and the circus re-opened. The maximum prison term has been reduced
from 25 years to fifteen.

.Bomb threat against Chisinau's airport proves false.

CHISINAU, April 3 (Itar-Tass) -- The bomb threat against the Moldovan
capital's airport has proved false. No explosives inside the building have
been found, Interior Ministry spokesman Kirill Motsan told the media.
The official said the police have detained the threat caller. His name
has not been disclosed. After the arrest the man, obviously drunk, told
the police that he made the phone call to the airport using his mobile
just for fun.
Now the practical joke may cost him a prison term. After the call an
alert was declared, the building was fenced off and all people were
evacuated. The Chisinau-Moscow flight was postponed.
The Moldovan Interior Ministry has said that calls with false bomb
threats to the police are frequent. Each time police operatives and
military bomb disposal specialists are dispatched to the scene and
evacuation is ordered. The previous such incident was in March last year.

.RusHydro may build generating facilities in Venezuela.

CARACAS, April 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's hydro power company RusHydro
may build generating facilities in Venezuela, the company's chief, Yevgeny
Dod, told the media.
He said "we are in talks over a joint hydro power generating project."
The possibility of creating a joint venture with Venezuela's Enelco
company is being considered.

-0-str


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