Turkmenistan to Weave Countrywide Textile Network by 2010
Topic: Economy & business
Ashgabat, 27 May 2005 (nCa) --- Addressing the opening ceremony of a couple of textile mills Thursday, President Niyazov announced that by 2010 the remaining 26 districts of Turkmenistan would have at least one textile complex each.

His remarks came during the inauguration of two textile units, one in VekilBazaar district of Mary province and the other in Halach district of Lebap province.

At present 21 districts have got textile processing and production facilities, a quantum jump since independence when only Ashgabat, Mary and Turkmenabat (then Charjou) had some rudimentary textile mills and the rest of the cotton of Turkmenia SSR was sent by the red Kremlin to Ivanov industrial town near Moscow for processing.

Under the national development programme up to 2020, Turkmenistan is building its textile complex on the principle that any district that wants to have a textile unit should be able to produce adequate volume of cotton to keep the factory running.

The VekilBazaar textile complex built by Angin-led consortium combines spinning, dyeing, weaving and stitching felicities. Spread over an area of 20 hectares, it can process 10220 tons of cotton yarn annually to produce 63.7 million square meters of fabric.

Swiss and Belgian machinery has been used in the factory and it has opened 300 new job vacancies for the local population.

Angin Kaliy (phonetically spelled), Head of Angin was present during the opening ceremony. His group of companies has already built textile factories in TakhtaBazaar, TurkmenKalla and SakarChag districts of Mary province.

Another textile factory was opened in Halach district of Lebap province. This factory has been built by the Turkish company Norsel, one of the oldest foreign companies in Turkmenistan. First phase of the factory had been opened earlier and now the factory has been completed according to planned specifications. The entire project cost US $ 27 million.

The Halach factory is equipped with German and Swiss machinery. It is designed to process 10100 tons of cotton fiber annually. It can produce 9100 tons of quality yarn and a wide range of downstream products. Most of the products of Halach are expected to find an export market, with the likely annual profit of 60 billion Manats.

Based on the quality of Halach factory, President Niyazov asked the head of Norsel to start another textile project in the locality in January 2006. The new project would be a composite unit, taking in raw cotton and churning out garments and textile made-ups.

Niyazov also asked the ministry of textiles and Turkish company Gap Inshaat to design another textile project for Turkmenabat district. He also said that by 2010, all the cotton producing districts would have at least one textile complex each.

The Turkmen president went on to praise Turkmen-Turkish relations. "Relations between Turkmenistan and Turkey are unique and need no political back-up. These relations are based on mutual advantage and benefit. And no party or state leaders are involved in this process," Nyyazow said, adding: "Turkmenistan is ready to back up Turkey and to come to its assistance whenever Turkey has any trouble and needs assistance."

British Ambassador Makes Farewell Call on Niyazov
Topic: Foreign Relations
Ashgabat, 7 June 2005 (nCa) --- Ambassador Paul Brummell made Monday farewell call on President Saparmurat Niyazov. His tenure as British ambassador to Turkmenistan is coming to an end.

President Niyazov thanked Ambassador Brummell for his exceptional efforts in promoting Ashgabat as regional peace centre where international community can join hands in finding solutions for global stability and development. He also thanked the British envoy for building on already excellent relations between the Great Britain and Turkmenistan.

Ambassador Brummell expressed his gratitude to Niyazov for extending all possible support in building the traditional ties between the two countries.

Brummell has been one of the most successful ambassadors in Turkmenistan. His stay in Ashgabat would be long remembered for the rich tapestry of cultural and social events that he kept going during the three years of his stay here.

Besides enriching the social life of Ashgabat, Brummell worked on a number of multifarious projects to integrate Turkmenistan into the international community.

Source: www.newscentralasia.com

The Castle Where the Fairy Tale to Live
Topic: Turkmen Culture
March 31, 2005. Every child likes fairy tales, believes in all amazing transformations and wonders happened to the heroes, who take children into the journey and do great deeds in the name of the good and beauty, love and friendship. The main idea of the project for construction of the new building of the Turkmen State Puppet-Show Theatre is to built the fabulous castle of exciting adventures and mysteries where the heroes of various fairy tales will live inviting the children in the world of fantasy and creation.

The castle designed in the oriented style will be constructed in the big district in the southern part of Ashgabat. The 35-metre tower crowned with a spire will be erected in the centre of the architectural ensemble. Two other towers with spires will adjoin the complex from both sides. The sculptural figures of the puppets placed in the base of the side towers will meet the guests. A white-marble semicircular colonnade as if embracing the facade will add solemnity to the building.

The ancient traditions of national architecture as well as modern tendencies in architecture were taken into consideration while developing the project. The unique architectural complex will become an architectural pearl of Ashgabat and one of the most beautiful buildings in Central Asia.

The up-to-date stage equipment will allow holding mass actions, children’s creation contests and film festivals. An auditorium designed for 350 seats with the stage of 180 square metres equipped with the lifting and expanding devices and an auditorium for 200 seats with the 126-squaremetre stage with a revolving mini stage are to be built. A puppet museum and cafe are to be on the ground floor of the theatre. The total area of the theatre complex makes up 7,600 square metres and the total area of the adjacent territory 25,000 square metres.

The new theatre is to be opened in October.

By Tamara Glazunova

Source: Turkmenistan: the Golden Age

Malaysian oil company Petronas plans to invest over $210 million in Turkmenistan
Topic: Economy & business
9 June, 2005. Malaysian state oil company Petronas that has been prospecting the Turkmen sector of the Caspian sea since 1996, plans to invest over $210 million in this area, the Turkmen government official told Reuters.

“Petronas will continue exploration works at offshore oil blocks worth US $ 210 mln and hopes to get the early oil by this autumn,” he said on Thursday.

Petronas was the first foreign company to sign an oil and gas production sharing agreement (PSA) with Turkmenistan on Block-1 which includes three oil fields, Gubkina, Jdanova and Livanovo.

According to the Turkmen source, the company plans to bring in an additional drilling rig and to drill three more testing wells by the end of the year. At the same time, the company will build an infrastructure to ensure the transportation of crude.

Petronas is currently holding talks on the mechanism of realization of hydrocarbons.

Exploration works conducted in the last years proved that, apart from oil, Block-1 contains great volumes of associated gas. In this regard, Ashgabat asked Petronas to help build a gas pipeline along the Caspian Sea coast to Russia.

Apart from Petronas, four more foreign companies operate in Turkmenistan: Maersk Oil, Burren Energy, Mitro International and Dragon Oil. They are implementing two onshore and three offshore projects. Only Dragon Oil deals with oil output in the sea.

German Wintershall is going to start prospecting works on the Caspian Sea this summer. PSA are expected to be signed with Dutch Berlanga, Russian Zarubezhneft and Rosneft and Itera’s subsidiary Gazhiminvest, LUKoil and other companies.

Ashgabat claims that hydrocarbon reserves of the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea are estimated at 11 bln tonnes of oil and 5,5 trillion cub. m. of gas. Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran are still at odds over the final division of the Caspian resources.

Source: REUTERS

Turkmenistan?s 1Q foreign trade turnover reaches US $ 2,659 bln
Topic: Economy & business
14 June 2005. Turkmenistan’s foreign trade turnover was US $2, 659 bln in January-April 2005, up 17% year-on-year, the Ashgabat correspondent of Turkmenistan.ru reports referring to data released by the National institute of state statistics and information.

In the first four months of the yeas, trade with CIS countries surged 28,7% to US $ 1,229,3 bln year-on-year owing to 29% rise in exports and 28% rise in imports. Trade surplus with CIS countries totaled US $ 407,3 mln.

Trade turnover with the rest of the world amounted to US $ 1,429,7 bln, an increase by 8,5% on the same period of last year. Although imports (16,8%) rose faster than did exports (3%), trade balance with those countries showed a surplus of US $ 200,3 mln.

Turkmenistan’s exports was US $ 1,633,3 bln in January-April 2005 as opposed to US $ 1,426 bln in the same period of 2004.

Exports of natural gas grew from 53% to 55%. Exports of oil products rose from 19% to 24%. Exports of textile products shrank from 7% to 6%, cotton – from 7% to 1%.

Favorable prices at the world markets of fuel-energy products contributed to achieving high export growth rates in terms of money measure of such products as natural gas, oil and oil products. In fact, in the four months of the year, a 23% rise in the average export price made it possible to increase natural gas supplies in terms of money measure by 17,6% against a 4% fall in volume of exports year-on-year. The same trend was reported in exports of oil and oil products. Exports of electricity in the reported period grew both in money measure (16,8%) and in volumes (by 16,4%).

Turkmenistan exported to 50 countries, with Ukraine, Iran, Italy, Turkey and Azerbaijan consuming over 80% of the total exports.

Turkmenistan imports stood at US $ 1,025,7 bln in January-April 2005, up 21,1% on 2004. Growth in imports in terms of money measure was mainly due to a 1,7-time increase in imports of raw materials and a 1,5-time increase in imports of consumer goods.

Turkmenistan imported from 71 countries. Imports grew from Ukraine (46%), Russia (18%), France (6 times) and China (2 times).

Source: Turkmenistan.Ru