On June 19, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov conducted a regular session of the Cabinet of Ministers to consider the priority issues of state life, as well as some important draft documents. Prior to the business part of the session, the President of Turkmenistan heartily congratulated the participants and the whole nation on the beginning of the Holy month of Oraza. May all your good deeds performed during this time, all your prayers for the people’s peaceful and prosperous life will be heard and answered by the Almighty – kabul bolsun, – the head of state said. The nation’s leader also wished the Holy month of Oraza, during which good intentions, wishes and hopes come true, to bring well-being, prosperity and endless happiness to our neutral Motherland and native people. Then, moving to the session agenda, the President of Turkmenistan gave the floor to Chairperson of Mejlis A. Nurberdyeva to inform about the national parliament’s activity on forming in the country of the modern national legislative base, the deputies’ participation in the international-level events and about their fieldwork. As reported, at present, the work is in progress on the fifteen draft laws assigned to facilitate consistent implementation of the state’s socio-oriented policy, further dynamic development of the national economy’s sectors and other spheres of the society’s life; the work on drafting the amended Constitution of Turkmenistan is well under way. As the nation’s leader noted, the law-making activity presupposes keeping constant contacts of Mejlis deputies with the local governance authorities, public organizations and population, for all the laws, first and foremost, should work to the advantage of the people, provide quality-of-life improvements for the citizens of the country, their peaceful and constructive labor. The head of state also stressed the importance of giving careful consideration to the incoming proposals on the improvement of the country’s Constitution, taking into account the people’s wishes and suggestions. In his report, Cabinet Deputy Chairman A. Gochyev covered the situation in the sector he is responsible for, the accomplishment of the earlier presidential assignments. The Vice Premier also reported on the outcomes of the meeting with representatives of the Islamic Development Bank which was held in Ashgabat on May 18-23 this year. The agenda of visit was focused on such issues, as advancement of the bilateral cooperation, as well as the potentialities for the IDB’s financial participation in 8 projects planned for implementation in our country in 2016-2018 in the transport-communications sector and in the field of small and medium businesses. Among the within-said projects are: upgrading of Madav-Esenguly and Mary-Serhetabat highways; construction of the Atamyrat-Ymamnazar-Akina railway section and airports in the cities of Atamyrat and Garabogaz; as well as building of oil tankers, tugboats and a passenger ship. Besides, it is assumed that the Islamic Development Bank will participate in funding construction of the Turkmenbashi-Baku fiber-optic communication line, and improvement of Internet services. In this connection, the development is projected of the relevant Program for 2016-2018 between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Islamic Development Bank. Summing up the report, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has noted with satisfaction the ever-growing interest of foreign business communities, including the Islamic Development Bank - our country’s long-standing and reliable partner, in expanding their presence at the promising Turkmen market. The IDB and Turkmenistan are connected by long-term productive cooperation in the frames of which a number of large projects have been successfully realized. Having approved the proposals submitted, the President of Turkmenistan addressed the Vice-Premier a number of concrete assignments on working out the 2016-2018 Program of the Islamic Development Bank for Turkmenistan. Next speaker, Cabinet Deputy Chairman, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan R. Meredov presented a report on the ministerial activities aimed at maintaining and strengthening the country’s sustainable foreign-policy course. Among the events mentioned were the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s recent official visit to Turkmenistan, and the visits to our country of the heads of the leading United Nations agencies, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the other large organizations, in particular, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Our country’s interaction with the EU, the OSCE, as well as with the world’s leading financial organizations is traditionally notable for its dynamic and constructive character. Programs and projects in different fields are being successfully carried out in cooperation with foreign partners. Summarizing the report, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov focused on the key aspects of the MFA’s activity in the context of implementing Turkmenistan’s foreign-policy course based on the principles of permanent neutrality, peacefulness, good neighborly relations and constructive mutually advantageous cooperation. The President of Turkmenistan addressed the Vice Premier, Foreign Minister, a number of commissions concerning the activity of the Ministry and the country’s diplomatic corps in the light of the important tasks assigned to them. Next speaker, Cabinet Deputy Chairman A. Yazmyradov, centered his report on the implementation course of the seasonal agri-works, including the grain harvesting campaign ongoing in the regions. The Vice-Premier also reported on the fulfillment of assignments given by the head of state on boosting the production of fruit, vegetable and cucurbitaceous crops in the country. Having emphasized the need to steadily increase the paces of the grain harvesting, the President of Turkmenistan gave the Vice-Premier specific commissions on implementing a set of measures on timely and high-quality conducting the campaign. The outcomes of the campaign will be the basis for giving assessment to the work performed by the agro-industrial complex’s sectors involved. The head of state Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov also centered on the issue of organizing leisure activities for combine operators, drivers, and maintenance workers engaged in the grain harvesting campaign, having given a number of the issue-related assignments. Reporting on the state of affairs in the sectors he is in charge of, Cabinet Deputy Chairman S. Toilyev informed about the ongoing work on training in the country and abroad the demand-driven highly-qualified specialists for different sectors of the national economy. In this context, the Vice-Premier submitted for consideration of the President of Turkmenistan an issue on training Turkmen young people at Romania’s higher education institutions. As informed, within the framework of “The 2012-2017 Program of Cooperation between the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports of Romania”, Romanian universities set an entry quota for 25 Turkmen students for the 2015-2016 academic year. In this connection, the Vice-Premier noted the necessity of using the quota with a glance to the demand for specialists of our country’s ministries and sectoral agencies. Admission documents from the applicants interested in getting education in the Romanian higher education institutions will be accepted at the Magtymguly Turkmen State University throughout June 23-July 2. Entrance examinations will be held in July 6 - July 8 in the form of a written test based on the national school curriculum, as well as in the form of interview on the subject “History of Turkmenistan”. University training will be provided in a number of specialties which are highly acclaimed in the oil and gas industry, construction, transport-communications, and financial-economic sectors, agroindustrial complex, and other fields. Welcoming fruitfulness of the Turkmen-Romanian cooperation in the field of education - an essential component of the traditionally friendly interstate relations, the President of Turkmenistan has highlighted the need to timely manage and solve all the organizational and other issues related to selection and sending the young people to study at Romania’s universities/ In this regard, the head of state gave to the Vice-Premier a number of concrete issue-associated commissions. The report of Cabinet Deputy Chairperson M. Yazmuhammedova was focused on the ongoing many-aspect work on collecting, in-depth studying and preserving for the generations to come the national immaterial cultural heritage created by the Turkmen people throughout thousands of years,. To this end, in compliance with the regulations specified in the UNESCO’s International Conception, the Immaterial Cultural Heritage Department was established at the country’s Ministry of Culture last year. One of the main tasks of the agency is to thoroughly study the national immaterial cultural intended for being included in the UNESCO’s Immaterial Cultural Heritage List. Adopted in the running year’s February, the relevant Law of Turkmenistan governs the activities in the field of the Turkmen people’s immaterial cultural heritage protection. The 2015-2020 State Program for the field-related activity and its Implementation Plan are currently in preparation. Welcoming the proposal on drafting the within-said State Program, the President of Turkmenistan gave to the Vice-Premier specific issue-related commissions. Cabinet Deputy Chairman B. Hojamuhammedov submitted for consideration by the head of state a draft Resolution on constructing in Ashgabat the Training Education Center of the “Turkmengas” State Concern. The Vice-Premier also informed about the outcomes of a working trip to the city of Berlin (the Federal Republic of Germany) to take part in the business forum on the prospects for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation, including in the trade-economic, oil and gas, energy, transit-transport sectors, and other fields. Special consideration was given to unleashing the potential for implementing joint high-tech projects in various spheres. Turkmen delegation held a number of productive talks with the heads of state and financial institutions, firms and companies of the FRG, in the course of which the priority areas of further partnership were defined. Having signed the Resolution “On constructing the Training Education Center of the “Turkmengas” State Concern in Ashgabat”, the President of Turkmenistan gave to the vice-premier a number of concrete instructions on tooling the Center with the most advanced equipment, and communications facilities. Having emphasized that Turkmenistan would keep on promoting constructive and fruitful international cooperation, the nation’s leader Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov noted a progressive character of the development of interaction with Germany – the country, ranked among the Europe’s leaders, which have high economic and technological potential. The report of Cabinet Deputy Chairman B. Ereshov was an extensive coverage of the state of affairs in the sectors answerable to him, the steps taken to push up the sales of products produced by enterprises of the industrial sector. In particular, the Vice-Premier informed about the fulfillment of commissions given by the head of state on marketing the products of the Textiles Ministry. As was noted, at present, there are 30 specialized shops (including the existing and new ones) in the country, which sell different-type cotton and silk fabrics, household textiles, ready-made clothes at affordable prices. After opening the shops in the multi-purpose shopping centers of velayats, as well as sales outlets in etrap centers, daikhan associations and villages, the domestic sales of the products fivefold increased. Besides, institutions of social sphere are fully provided with high-quality home-produced textiles. In the framework of comprehensive modernization and technical re-equipment of the sectoral enterprises with the application of state-of-the-art high-performance facilities, spinning and sewing departments have been upgraded at the Turkmenbashi Textile and Jeans Complexes, as well as at some other sectoral enterprises. This enabled to step up the production and enhance the quality of products. In the after-report comments, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has stressed that the textile industry is one of the national economy’s priority sectors. Focusing on the importance of in-depth studying the demand and supply in the industry, improving the marketing service and pricing policy in the home and foreign markets, the nation’s leader has emphasized that to raise profitability of the sectoral enterprises, it is necessary to organize production of new types of import-substituting and export-oriented competitive products, including ready commodities through applying most advanced technologies and improving production management methods. The state of affairs in the transport and communications complex, the measures taken by the Ministry of Communications of Turkmenistan to make high-speed Internet services more accessible to the local users, in particular, the work on leasing a high-speed Internet traffic channel, were in the focus of the report made by Cabinet Deputy Chairman S. Satlykov. As reported, in accordance with the contracts made by the country’s Ministry of Communications, the leased lines are already available connected to the fiber-optic communications systems in the direction of Kazakhstan, Great Britain, Russia and Turkey. Specialists of the Ministry have worked out a leased traffic channel project in the direction of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The project implementation will enable to increase the Internet speed and upgrade the optic-fiber main lines. Summing up the report, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has emphasized that at present the state creates every condition to make Internet services and modern communications technologies accessible to every citizen, and gives much consideration to intensive development of telecommunication services. In this context, the President of Turkmenistan has addressed the Vice-Premier a number of specific assignments on ensuring high-quality level of the work. In his turn, Cabinet Deputy Chairman, Senior Manager of the Affairs Management Department of the President’s and Cabinet’s Administration Sh. Durdylyev focused on the activity of the sectors answerable to him, as well as on the work accomplished on the Turkmen capital’s improvement. As was informed, to successfully implement the Work Plans in Ashgabat city’s etraps, construction works and full-scale renovation of the social infrastructure, transport-communications and engineering systems, communications and utilities systems are well under way in the capital. The report also included the information about the measures taken to ensure failure-free power supply in Ashgabat. Having concentrated on the priority tasks for improving the architectural apeal of the country’s capital, the President of Turkmenistan has highlighted the importance of ensuring well-coordinated actions of all the agencies concerned, and assigned to keep constant control over the timely execution of works. Then, Chairman of the Supreme Control Chamber of Turkmenistan B. Atdaev (invited to the session) reported on the outcomes of the President-sanctioned power supply check in the city of Ashgabat, which had revealed serious shortcomings made by the relevant agencies of the Ministry of Energy and the capital’s khyakimlik. In the report-follow up comments, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov stressed that the within-said check had shown that supply of electricity to the residential sector and enterprises of the Turkmen capital was not provided efficiently. Having pointed out that numerous shortcomings were made in the work, the head of state expressed dissatisfaction with inadequate control over uninterrupted operation of power supply networks on the part of the city’s khyakimlik. Having noted low preparation level of the energy sector for the summer season, the head of state has highlighted that this leads to constant failures of the relevant systems and transformers, and complaints from residents of the capital. In this connection, for the improper execution of official duties and shortcomings in the work, the nation’s leader gave a severe reprimand to Ashgabat city’s khyakim R. Nurmammedov and Minister of Energy of Turkmenistan G. Saryev, and warned them that failure to correct the shortcomings promptly would result in their dismissal. The head of state signed the relevant Orders. The state of affairs in the supervised sectors and the outcomes of a working tour to London and Norwich (Great Britain) made on June 15-18 were in the center of the report made by Cabinet Deputy Chairman M. Artykov. To tackle the tasks assigned by the head of state on ensuring upward advancement of the country’s power-generating system production capacities, during the tour, specialists were acquainted with the operation of power plants in Norwich. As the Vice-Premier informed, the power plants are a complex of modern production facilities with high-power gas- and steam-turbine plants. Speaking of the electric power industry’s prospects, the head of state has underlined the importance of exchanging experience and information in this field. Having noted the need to employ the latest technologies, high-performance, reliable equipment and materials in the sectoral projects implementation, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov gave a number of concrete issue-associated assignments. Reporting on the ongoing work in the sectors he is responsible for and on the measures taken to improve the trade system, Cabinet Deputy Chairman P. Taganov informed that the National Bar Coding Organization had become a member of the “GS1” International Organization and Turkmenistan had been given a relevant bar code. The National Bar Coding Organization was established with share participation of the Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Union of Turkmenistan, and currently includes 366 members. In compliance with the Resolution of the head of state, much work is being done on introducing the bar code system in the country; over 20,000 home-produced products have already been given the relevant code. The issue of Turkmenistan’s accession to the GS1 International System – “Global Standard”, an important market instrument of quality control and competitiveness of products and services, was considered at the “GS1” General Assembly in Sydney (Australia) on May 18-20 this year. The National Bar Coding Organization was admitted to the International Organization by the unanimous decision of its 111 member countries. The Turkmenistan-made products will have a bar code beginning with the number – 483. The relevant Certificate awarded to Turkmenistan was submitted for consideration by the head of state. After the report, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has highlighted the significance of Turkmenistan’s accession to the GS1 International System, what serves as a clear evidence of our country’s recognition as a reliable and responsible participant of the international trade-economic partnership. Application of the bar code system opens up new possibilities for the trade-economic relations advancement, diversification of export supplies and expansion of their assortment. Focusing on the necessity of taking further steps for protecting the national interests and the rights of consumers, for providing them necessary and reliable information, encouraging competition among the commodity producers, the nation’s leader commissioned the Vice-Premier to ensure control over realization of the plans and activities aimed to develop modern efficient forms of trade. Some other issues of state life were considered at the Cabinet session, and the appropriate resolutions were adopted.