A session of the Council of Elders started its work in Asghabat, the capital of Turkmenistan

In Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan a session of the Council of Elders started its work. At the opening of the session the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov delivered a speech.

In his speech the Head of Turkmen State presented a broad picture of the country’s achievements over 25 years of its independent development in political, social-economic, and humanitarian spheres, and assessed the current state of the country and society.

Speaking about achievements in social and economic area, President of Turkmenistan, in particular, noted that over the past 25 years in the country, investments worth 144 billion US dollars have been developed, 544 large facilities of industrial and non-industrial purpose have been constructed and commissioned.

The volume of foreign trade turnover in comparison to 1995 increased 8 times. Turkmenistan carried out two large-scale energy projects – Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline and Turkmenistan-Iran gas pipeline. In December 2015 construction of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline has begun.

It was noted in the speech that since 2007 fundamental reforms in the national economy, financial and banking systems has been started. Thus, today the state strategy of accelerated transformation of Turkmenistan from primarily agrarian state into a developed industrial power with high level of technological and production cycle is becoming a reality.

Private sector is developing at high rates in industry, agriculture, construction, services sector and other spheres. To date, the share of non-state sector in the structure of GDP amounted to 68% (excluding energy sector). The total number of non-state enterprises reached 25,000.