The ancient Greek politician and philosopher Mark Tullius Cicero said: "There is nothing better and more pleasant in the world than friendship, to exclude friendship from life is the same as to deprive the world of sunlight." Today, this saying, against the background of conflicting ideas about the world order and its values, flaring up here and there regional conflicts, is seen, if not prophetic, then at least especially relevant.

The severity of this problem also lies in the fact that if the loss of trust of one ordinary person to another is somehow fixable and not so painful for others, then the loss of trust and friendship in interstate relations turns into a problem for neighbors as well.

Trust and friendship disappear, and enmity inevitably comes in return. And you don't have to go far for examples. They are obvious for those who are more or less versed in international issues. There are “non-handshake”, “unfriendly” people and even countries.

To regain trust and good neighborly relations is an extremely difficult task. Just as in interpersonal relations, at the state level, it is considered more correct not to bring the matter to a dead end, on the contrary, it is necessary to constantly and purposefully work to build confidence. This is the best way in this direction.

The Turkmen have a proverb "a close neighbor is better than a distant relative." From the first days of independence, Turkmenistan, declaring its borders with neighbors as borders of friendship and good neighborliness, has actually put these postulates into practice in practice. Based on the basic principles of neutrality, the country has been building trusting good-neighborly relations with its neighbors for thirty years.

A logical continuation of building such relations at the interstate level was the fact that the UN General Assembly at the 106th plenary meeting of the 73rd session, on the initiative of Turkmenistan, adopted the resolution "2021 - International Year of Peace and Trust."

This year, International Friendship Day (July 30, proclaimed ten years ago) falls at a time when wars are raging in many parts of the world, and violence and mistrust among people are on the rise. People who previously lived in harmony find themselves in conflict with their neighbors; people who have no choice but to live together find themselves farther apart.

In these difficult and unpredictable times, it is imperative to reach out to each other in order to prevent conflict and lay the foundation for a lasting peace.

On the occasion of the International Day of Friendship, it is necessary to remember that we are connected regardless of race, religion, gender or borders.

Today the world faces a large number of challenges and threats: terrorism, poverty, violence. All this undermines the foundations of peace and security, social foundations, and divides people and societies. And in order to confront these challenges and threats, it is necessary to eradicate the causes of their occurrence. This can only be achieved through solidarity, strengthening trust and friendly relations. The main condition for friendship is trust.

Correspondent "GA"