Dear Mr. Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Dr. Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen!

Dear Heads of State and Government!

Ladies and Gentlemen!

First of all, I would like to thank His Excellency the Secretary General for organizing today’s Summit! The issue brought up for discussion is particularly relevant and important in the modern period of an unprecedented breakthrough in the field of information technology and of greater demand for joint scientific research in the areas that are of considerable interest to humanity.

Today, Islamic civilization that has made an invaluable contribution to the development of world science and culture is going through a difficult time that requires joint approaches to ensure a gradual transition to innovative and high-tech models of economic growth.

We have everything necessary for this: human potential, abundant natural resources, substantial funds, the favorable physical environment and geographical location.

By now, our Organization has already taken important steps towards the effective and rational use of the above-mentioned possibilities in order to bring real benefits to all members of the Muslim world.

In September 2017, we held the first Summit on Science and Technology. We had achieved certain positive results implementing the Organization’s Ten-Year Program of Action (2005-2015) in this area, which made it possible to concretely identify new goals and long-term objectives in the second ten-year Program of Action until 2026.

In this context, Turkmenistan highly values the progress made so far in tackling the priority tasks specified in the above-said document, as well as the activities of the OIC Standing Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation in this field.

Alongside with that, I would like to designate promising areas of partnership that will yield concrete and beneficial results for all the member-nations of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Firstly, it is building up relations with the aim of advancing fundamental science, working together towards effective scientific solutions, devising methods of exchanging important research findings, particularly in medicine and healthcare.

This initiative by the Turkmen side was identified as one of the priority areas of the Organization’s Agenda 2026 in the field of innovations related to the creation of research and research and technology centers. In particular, I mean the establishment of a Network of Research Centers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that will represent the scientific and technological potential of the Islamic world and will allow sharing data between our countries’ scientific communities in a prompt and coordinated fashion.

Secondly, we propose speeding up the process of working out a unified strategy or a basic framework for water, food and environmental security within the Organization for Economic Cooperation. This is clearly specified in the 2026 Scientific and Technological Cooperation Program.

The absence of relevant framework documents in this key area does not allow us to properly deal with the existing complex issues, such as the equal provision of water resources and strategic food products, and the alleviation of negative impacts of climate change and environmental disasters.

Reaffirming its firm commitment to strengthening and stepping up the international efforts targeted at modern-day environmental threats, Turkmenistan puts forward a number of concrete and urgent measures. In particular, our country has indicated the need to take steps to develop a low-carbon energy system, as well as to draw up a Global Strategy under the auspices of the United Nations, aimed at creating a Roadmap for hydrogen deployment as one of the priority areas in the energy sector.

We are convinced that the Islamic world’s solidarity in implementing international initiatives in these fields will help each member of our Organization to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals outlined in the 2030 Global Agenda.

Thirdly, noting the importance of the earlier defined tasks of setting up a big data system and a joint partnership to promote the secure digital economy, we point out two inseparably linked issues that determine success in achieving the goals.

More specifically, these are the issues of building reliable physical support systems in some countries and large regions, integrating support systems for Muslim countries at interregional level, as well as of creating a single data register proposed by the OIC Standing Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation on the basis of high-performance computer system centers of the member-states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

In this regard, Turkmenistan is ready and willing to consider the possibilities of using its national factors to locate and ensure the efficient operation of these centers.

Dear Summit Participants!

The Summit is a significant step toward fostering the unity in the Muslim world for the sake of progress and prosperity of our countries.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I wish you good health, and peace, wellbeing and prosperity to our nations!

(Ashgabat, June 16, 2021)