Cooperation for Peace and Development in the Silk Road Region - Turkmenistan and India

<strong>Silk Road Studies Programme J.N.U.</strong> and <strong>Embassy of Turkmenistan In India</strong> International Seminar <strong>2015 - Year of Neutrality and Peace:</strong> <strong>Cooperation for Peace and Development in the Silk Road Region - Turkmenistan and India</strong> <strong>on 19th March 2015 at the Convention Centre, JNU, New Delhi.</strong> To mark the Turkmenistan 2015: Year of Neutrality and Peace, the Embassy of Turkmenistan in India in collaboration with the Silk Road Studies Program, Jawaharlal Nehru University, is organizing a daylong International Seminar and Cultural Event on Cooperation for Peace and Development in the Silk Road Region: Turkmenistan and India. The Seminar shall be held on 19th March 2015 at the Convention Centre, JNU, New Delhi. The year 2015 is a milestone year in the history of modern Turkmenistan. It marks two special events: the 20th Anniversary of the unanimous recognition by the UN of the international legal status of Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan (which it had first declared at the Helsinki Summit of CSCE in 1992), as well as the 20th anniversary of its membership of the Non-Aligned Movement. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan has attributed a special role to the Non-Aligned Movement in the historical development of Turkmenistan's Neutral Status, and the Council of Elders of Turkmenistan has declared 2015 as the 'Year of Neutrality and Peace.' Yearlong celebrations shall culminate in a Global Summit of Heads of States as well as Secretaries General of the UN, OSCE, CIS, ECO, OIC, SCO and other international originations, to be held at Ashgabat on 12 December, 2015, for a dialogue on global peace, security and development. Forming an extended neighborhood, India and the Regions of the Silk Road have had links that predate history. The close cultural, linguistic, ethnic, trade and geo-political exchange between the Turkmen people and India that grew over the last several millenniums continues to tie modern Turkmenistan and India in inseparable historic destinies. India as a founding architect of the Non-Aligned Movement and an advocate of world peace and international cooperation has a leading role in building regional security and development. Inter alia these, with 'positive neutrality' as the core of Turkmenistan's foreign policy, and India's 'Connect Central Asia Policy' the ties between Turkmenistan and India stand poised for new dimensions of economic, political, cultural, natural resource, and strategic cooperation. In today's dynamic global scenario, as the regions of the Silk Road receive enhanced international attention, strengthening of the ongoing exchange between Turkmenistan and India is imperative for not only fostering peace, cooperation and development in the regions of the Silk Road but globally as well.