In the conference hall of the "Yildiz" hotel in the capital on November 28, a meeting of the round table "Principles of Humanity and Neutrality" was held in a hybrid format, the topic of which was the expediency of the practical implementation of monetary and voucher assistance in Turkmenistan. The meeting was held within the framework of the project "Strengthening local and national capacities for emergency preparedness and response in Central Asian countries with a high risk of earthquakes and natural disasters – Turkmenistan".

The meeting was organized by the National Red Crescent Society of Turkmenistan with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, as well as USAID.

The round table was attended by employees of the central office and velayat branches of the NRCST, national ministries and banks, as well as international experts – representatives of UN agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), IFRC delegates — Pauline Caspellan and Marcin Podlesny.

The program of the representative event included panel discussions and group work.

National and international experts made presentations in which they familiarized with the activities of the NRCST and the interaction of the national society with the IFRC, international experience and best practices in the field of cash and voucher assistance (CVA).

The participants of the round table considered the issues of preparedness for natural disasters and response to them in the aspect of CVA, exchanged views on the importance of the law on effective humanitarian assistance in cash and vouchers, procedural aspects of the introduction of  CVA, as well as the need and implementation of  CVA for humanitarian missions in Turkmenistan.

Special attention was paid to cooperation in order to support disaster risk reduction and preparedness for emergency situations.