Successful business is built on a vision that goes beyond profits and cash flows and embraces sustainability.

This is the opinion of NowaEco, which uses agricultural and textile waste as the main raw material for the production of paper and cardboard, previously burned or collected in wastelands by agricultural and textile producers throughout the country. Thanks to the introduction of environmentally friendly technology for processing and recycling agricultural and textile waste, it is now possible to produce 230 thousand tons of value-added products from 290 thousand tons of waste: corrugated cardboard, paper bags and cardboard, notepads, A4 office paper.

The project created more than 500 jobs for residents of Ahal velayat, significantly reduced carbon dioxide emissions in two main sectors of the economy of Turkmenistan - agriculture and textile industry, introduced the principles of a circular economy at the enterprise and local levels, and also contributed to the implementation of SDGs 1, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 15.

The company's management spoke about all this to foreign guests - the UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan, Mr. Dmitriy Shlapachenko and members of the UN country team, development partners and representatives of embassies in Turkmenistan, who recently visited the modern NowaEco paper mill in Yashlyk, Ahal velayat. The meeting highlighted the mission and innovative business operations of the host company, which focuses on sustainability and environmentally friendly technologies used in paper production.

This high-level study visit by foreign guests was the result of a UN initiative to develop partnerships with the private sector, launched in 2023. Then the UN in Turkmenistaan and the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals, and the UN-Private Sector Partnership Platform was successfully launched as an operational mechanism for implementing the Memorandum.

The UN and the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan intend to continue to disseminate knowledge about sustainable business practices throughout Turkmenistan, as well as promote in the regions the best practices of Turkmen private business that contribute to sustainable development and implementation of the SDGs in the country.