Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

Turkmen President urges to vote on new constitution

JULY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered the Council of Elders to vote on a new constitution in mid-September. The Council of Elders is an advisory body chaired by Mr Berdymukhamedov widely believed to rubber-stamp his diectorates. A proposed new constitution that would effectively extend Mr Berdymukhamedov’s term as president was published in February.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Turkmenistan reorganises its oil and gas ministry

JULY 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a move that took observers by surprise, Turkmenistan abolished its oil and gas ministry which had, officially, run the most profitable economic sector in the country, part of a wider structural reform of the government.

At a cabinet meeting, President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov justified the move as an effort to improve management and governance systems n the energy sector.

Turkmenistan is considered an important stakeholder in the world’s energy nexus, and the move shook analysts. It holds the fourth-largest gas reserves in the world and exports gas mostly to China via pipeline. For over a decade, European and US lobby groups have pushed for a Trans-Caspian Pipeline to pump Turkmen gas to Europe. Turkmenistan is also building TAPI, a gas pipeline to export gas to India, via Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Simon Pirani, senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said that aside from internal causes, which are hard to guess, a range of external factors could have played in Turkmenistan’s decision to reorganise its hydrocarbon sector.

“The continuing relationship with China, despite lower off-take of gas than Turkmen officials had hoped, the improved ties with Iran and the quite bad relationship with Russia could all be relevant factors,” he told The Conway Bulletin.

The change, however, is unlikely to shift the way that Turkmenistan does business, a system that revolves around the whims and decisions of President Berdymukhamedov.

“Companies and international organisations are aware that Turkmenistan is a centralised system,” Mr Pirani said.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Salaries rise in Turkmenistan

JULY 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov signed a bill to increase the salaries of state workers by 10% from January 2017, continuing the tradition of salary increases at the beginning of the year, official media reported. The minimum salary in Turkmenistan amounts to 650 manat (around $186 at the official exchange rate).

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Turkmen Union of Industrialists needs cash

JULY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Turkmen Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, a lobby group, has allegedly asked local entrepreneurs to pitch in and aid the government’s budget with donations of up to $100,000, the opposition website Chronicles of Turkmenistan said. The request apparently was outlined during a meeting by the Union’s chairman, Alexander Dadayev. Since 2012, the Union established the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, a government-linked party.

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