Aybolek Ovezova

Aybolek was educated at the Turkmen State University majoring in English and Literature. This allowed her to gain work experience in various interesting fields and expanded her scope of interest. She enjoyed working as a teacher of English at school where she developed more patience, perseverance, and drive for results. All these attitudes have helped her greatly in her future career path. Working in the oil and gas industry was a great opportunity for her to sharpen her skills and also learn to operate in a completely different environment. Currently Aybolek is an active member of the U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat where she works on implementing the Export Control and Border Security Program (EXBS). This program gave her an insight to the international development area. Collaboration with her colleagues on daily basis at the international, national and regional level provided an understanding and concern over the territory and natural resources, in particular the use of water in Amu-Darya River Basin. This issue is particularly close to Aybolek’s heart because she was born and raised in the north of Turkmenistan, where conflict exists. Aybolek truly believes that after gaining Peace and Conflict Resolutions skills as well as expand her understanding on the region through different prospective, she will join the international organizations and contribute her skills to urge the international community with the Turkmen government into the resolution of this issue. In particular, Aybolek is planning to join UN projects working in the region and be able to impact the resolution of the dispute between Central Asian countries.