Course of development of Turkmen-American business partnership

On December 14, 2016 a meeting on the prospects of development of long-term successful partnership in various spheres of economy was held in Ashgabat. Participants included representatives of the "Turkmenistan-U.S." Business Council, a number of companies of the United States of America, the industry sector ministries and departments of our country, production factories, as well as the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

Executive Director of the Council Eric Stewart praised the policy of "open doors" pursued by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov that is conducive to the development of bilateral cooperation and development of trade-economic relations.

Participants of the meeting stressed the importance of enhancing Turkmen-American dialogue, closer contacts between potential partners, development of new cooperation opportunities in the traditional areas, promotion of joint projects, the intensification of productive relations in various sectors and increase in investment activities.

Reciprocal interests of Turkmen and American business communities were ascertained to deepen all-round mutually beneficial partnership. This partnership has a great potential in view of the growing aspirations of the U.S. business community to expand its presence on the Turkmen market and take an active part in implementation of mass-scale government programs initiated by President of Turkmenistan.

 

Speech by Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs in a meeting of the Turkmen-American Business Council
(Ashgabat, 14 December 2016)

Your Excellency, respected United States Ambassador to Turkmenistan Mr. Alan Mustard

Dear Executive Director of the Turkmenistan-U.S. Business Council Mr. Eric Stewart,

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, 

First of all, let me thank the representatives of American companies, as well as the heads of ministries and departments of Turkmenistan for having accepted the invitation to attend the next meeting of the Turkmen-American Business Council. As is well known, our Council was created in 2008 by the initiative of the President of Turkmenistan expressed in September 2007 in New York during a meeting with the representatives of the U.S. business community.
    The main purpose of the Business Council is to intensify trade and economic relations between Turkmenistan and the United States of America. Since its inception, the Council has become an important mechanism of bilateral cooperation in the economic sphere.

I take this opportunity to thank the Executive Director of the Turkmen-American Business Council, Mr. Eric Stewart, for his personal contribution to the development of trade and economic relations between our countries. 
Speaking of the activities of the Turkmen-American Business Council, we should emphasize its role as the organizer of major business forums and exhibitions, during which plans for cooperation between U.S. companies and their Turkmen partners were addressed; products of leading American manufacturers were demonstrated; and presentations of opportunities for cooperation between Turkmenistan and the U.S. in such strategically significant areas as energy, transport, communications, agriculture and others were conducted. 
In this context, the most striking developments in recent years have been the Turkmen-American business forums and expositions by U.S. companies held in 2011 and 2012 in Ashgabat. 
It should be noted that more than 60 U.S. companies participated in the first exposition, and more than 100 in the second. Developing these forms of bilateral economic cooperation in the subsequent years, the Council has organized a business forum with the participation of not only businesses, but representatives of the broad U.S. academic community, as well. 
While remarking on noteworthy Council results, I would like to emphasize that with its support, Turkmen cooperation with such major U.S. companies as Boeing and General Electric received further development; and partnerships with U.S. companies like SpaceX, Lindsay Corporation, Nicklaus Design and a number of others were established. We greatly respect the activities of the world's leading manufacturers of agricultural machinery company John Deere and Case and having a positive working experience with them is important for our country. 
With the support of the Council, we began to establish a mutually beneficial project in the banking sector. The first positive experience of Money Gram should be noted. 

Esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen, 

This meeting is dedicated to issues of further strengthening of the work of Turkmen-American Business Council with the goal of resuming cooperation between the two countries in trade and economic cooperation on a new level. It is evident that such cooperation has all conditions essential to allow for expansion of scope and direction of joint efforts. For this purpose, we have prepared a specific project plan for Turkmenistan-U.S. Business Council for the development of cooperation in 2017. In addition to outlining the strengthening of existing forms of cooperation, the plan introduces new forms of bilateral partnerships. I believe our colleagues will express their views on this subject, based on the results of today's meeting. 
In conclusion I would like to thank the United States Ambassador to Turkmenistan Mr. Alan Mustard and Executive Director of Turkmenistan-U.S. Business Council Mr. Eric Stewart, and all our American friends for their cooperation, and wish you a successful meeting of the Turkmen-American Business Council. 

Thank you for your attention.