Daily Times

3 June is celebrated worldwide as World Bicycle Day to recognize bicycle as a reliable and sustainable means of transportation. The Embassy of Turkmenistan in collaboration with Serena Hotels, and Tabani Group of companies who provided bicycles, organized a cycling event to encourage people from all walks of life to adopt cycling, promoting an active lifestyle and ecofriendly practices.The cycle rally took off at D-chowk and culminated at Serena Business Complex in Islamabad, where attendees were served healthy refreshments. The event was attended by the diplomatic community, corporate and media personnel and Serena Hotel’s associates. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Special Secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Syrus Sajjad Qazi.

Speaking at the event, Special Secretary Mr. Syrus Sajjad Qazi appreciated the Embassy of Turkmenistan and Serena Hotels for organizing the cycling event. He also lauded the Government of Turkmenistan for initiating the resolution at the United Nations General Assembly for declaring June 3 as World Bicycle Day to promote healthy lifestyle which will ultimately reduce carbon footprint and noise pollution. He emphasized the need to adapt to climate change by switching to healthier modes of transportation and maintained that such events should be organized more frequently to promote cycling as an efficient mode of transportation.

Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Pakistan and Dean of Diplomatic Corps H.E. Mr. Atadjan Movlamov in his speech noted that in 2018, on the initiative of Turkmenistan, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Resolution declaring June 3 the World Bicycle Day. Turkmenistan is promoting a healthy lifestyle and environment-friendly means of transport, the popularization of which directly contributes to achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals. It emphasized that the bicycle is an instrument of sustainable transportation and conveys a positive message to foster sustainable consumption and production and has a positive impact on climate. Turkmenistan is committed to strengthening international cooperation aimed at implementing the principles of development and peace. For its part, Turkmenistan was one of the first countries in the world to take up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the first in the region to nationalize the Sustainable Development Goals in 2016.

Mr. Aziz Boolani, CEO Serena Hotels reiterated company’s commitment to foster ecofriendly environment and highlighted some of the recent initiatives taken by Serena Hotels including plantation of 600,000 trees across Pakistan, commissioning of sewerage treatment plant and construction of new hotels in line with the guidelines of International Finance Corporation’s EDGE Certification. He thanked the participants for their support in making this event successful.