Last week, the conference hall of the capital’s “Grand Turkmen” Hotel hosted a regional expert conference “Peace and Stability in Central Asia and Afghanistan: A view from neutral Turkmenistan”. The forum was organized by our country’s Government with assistance of the office of the NATO Liaison Officer in Central Asia in the frames of the program of events celebrating the “Year of Neutrality and Peace” in Turkmenistan this year, as well as on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of constructive relations with this organization within the framework of the NATO program - “Partnership for peace”. Ambassadors and representatives of the diplomatic missions and international organizations accredited to our country, including the UN, the OSCE, the UN Regional Centre for Preventative Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), the EU Regional Centre in Ashgabat were invited to participate in the meeting with political scientists, who represented leading research centers for strategic and diplomatic studies of France, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and others. From the Turkmen side, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a number of ministries and agencies, higher education institutions, the International University of Humanities and Development, the Institute of State and Law under the President of Turkmenistan, the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan took part in the meeting. The contribution of neutral Turkmenistan to the maintenance of peace and stability in the region, in particular in Afghanistan and the role of Central Asian states in rendering political and economic assistance and support to this country, as well as advancement of cooperation in key issues of the region were on the agenda of the two-day conference. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Turkmenistan Mr. Sanjay Wadvani, NATO Liaison Officer in Central Asia Mr. Vinnikov have stressed that the meeting is the largest one of this kind held in Central Asia. The guests expressed their deep gratitude to the Government of Turkmenistan for the opportunity to invite experienced experts and discuss the most important regional issues, including the issues of technical and consultative support to Afghanistan in the view of completion of the International Security Assistance Force mission in the country in 2014.