In today’s world, sport is a significant component of international cooperation that contributes greatly to building trust between nations. In fulfilling the tasks of international relations, the sphere of activity of sports diplomacy focuses on establishing and maintaining contacts among the sports communities of different countries at various levels. A special role in sports diplomacy belongs to the sport of highest achievements. In the current international political environment, sports diplomacy is increasingly characterised as an effective tool of “soft power” that enables the state to fulfil various tasks, including important and complex ones, and solve problems in the international arena. Thanks to the records and achievements of athletes and national teams in international tournaments, the perception and image of a country can change at such an incredible speed that even diplomatic actions are not always able to match. One of the most important tools of sports diplomacy in solving relationship problems is public diplomacy. Public diplomacy is used to inform the public and foreign audiences, establish contacts and initiate a constructive dialogue, which contributes greatly to the formation of trusting relations between the public of different countries. While official diplomacy is focused on the structures of state authorities, public diplomacy is aimed for the widest public circles in different countries.
In Turkmenistan, under the leadership of the esteemed President, the promotion of physical culture and sports and the expansion of international cooperation in sports are the state policy priorities. Turkmenistan has been consistently building mutually beneficial cooperation in a bilateral format with foreign countries and in a multilateral format with international organisations, has signed more than 70 intergovernmental and interagency documents on cooperation in sports and maintains multilateral partnerships with the UN, UNESCO, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), among others. Another evidence of the success of sports diplomacy of Turkmenistan is the unanimous election of our country to the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport (CIGEPS) for 2023-2027. The growing international authority of Turkmenistan is confirmed by the unanimous adoption of the Resolution of the UN General Assembly on the declaration June 3 World Bicycle Day in 2018 and the Final Declaration of the International Sports Congress “Asian Games 2017: International Sports Cooperation for Peace and Progress” as an official document of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly.
