On July 15, while on a working trip to Balkan velayat, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov got acquainted with the implementation progress of the extant and would-be construction objects erected in the “Avaza” National Tourist Zone, as well as made a helicopter round of the seaside resort. In the morning, the President of Turkmenistan arrived at the Congress Center building in Avaza where the head of state was welcomed by the Chairperson of Mejlis, Deputies Chairman of the Cabinet, khyakims of Balkan velayat, Turkmenbashi city and Avaza etrap, and other senior officials. The President of Turkmenistan thoroughly examined the original architectural aspects of the grandiose structure shaped like a stylized snow-white doomed marquee with golden stained-glass windows and ornamental patterns on the façade of building. Started in November 2012, at present, construction of the Center is nearing completion. Apart from the ground floor, the nine-storey Center (185,000 sq m total area) has the halls for conducting representative events, summits, high-level meetings, forums, and conferences. The Central Asia’s largest Congress Center, is being constructed by the Turkish company “Polimeks Inşaat A.Ş.” whose chief executive also attended the event. The nation’s leader paid a visit to the largest 2,000-seat conference hall located on the first floor. Besides, the building accommodates two 450- and 256-seat banquet halls, 5 offices for the heads of foreign states, a premise for holding narrow-format meetings, 60-seat conference hall, three conference halls (100-seat each), multi-functional 200-seat conference hall for negotiations, hall for signing bilateral documents, business-meeting hall for government delegations, other premises intended for receptions, movie theater, and exhibition hall. A VIP-class sports complex (over 12,000 sq m) includes swimming pool, multi-purpose gym, and other facilities. On the upper floor of the building, there is an observation area with a panoramic view of Avaza. The territory adjacent to the Congress Center, is currently being provided with amenities - water cascades, fountains, green zones, an access bridge and parking areas. During the get-acquainted trip, the nation’s leader Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov showed close interest in technical equipment of the building, the materials the builders and designers used. The nation’s leader also gave commissions on organizing hospitality services for the Center’s guests. To this end, along with 80-, 100-, 200-seat conference halls, the protocol zone of Congress Center has three 30-seat meeting halls, three rooms for conducting meetings in the “one-to-one” format, private office rooms for high-ranking guests, as well as a 100-seat press center for media representatives. In the Congress Center’s press-conference hall, the head of state convened a working meeting with participation of the government members, khyakims of Balkan velayat, Turkmenbashi city and Avaza etrap, the head of “Polimeks”. Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet S. Satlykov (in charge of Balkan velayat) and the governor of regional administration informed President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov about the state of affairs in the velayat, fulfillment of the earlier presidential assignments, including the preparations progress for a regular session of the Elders’ Council of Turkmenistan. Other meeting attendees also delivered their reports on the situation at the construction sites of objects erected in Avaza, as well as on tackling the tasks set by the head of state on the young resort and maritime region further development. The leader of nation has also addressed a number of commissions on ensuring compliance of the facilities erected with present-day requirements and creating comfort conditions for the people. Not the least significant, the head of state has emphasized, to properly maintain serviceability of the operational objects. Special instructions were given on ensuring well-coordinated interaction of different agencies in preparations for the upcoming Elders’ Council meeting. The head of state demanded to exercise constant control over the quality of construction works under way in the “Avaza” National Tourist Zone, and over their adherence to the objects commissioning schedules. The President of Turkmenistan once again has stressed the importance of using the Avaza’s natural ecosystem for creating landscape-recreational areas and of well-considered placement of service-oriented infrastructural facilities for providing quality-of-services improvements to the holidaymakers. In that context, the nation’s leader sorted out key aspects of the “Avaza” Tourist Zone development, identified as: introduction of the latest engineering developments; improvement of the hospitality services level; adherence to the high-quality and ecological standards of construction; the maritime region’s impressive and distinctive natural uniqueness harmoniously dovetailed with its modern architectural solutions. President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov also focused attention on the issues of ensuring cleanness, order and ecological well-being in the seaside resort territory, health centers of the “Avaza” National Tourist Zone, and in the region on the whole, having addressed the issue-related assignments to the relevant senior executives. Upon completion of the meeting, the head of Turkmen state left the Congress Center and proceeded to a nearby pier. After examining the mooring berth, jutted out into the aquatic area of tourist zone and designed for mooring pleasure boats, the nation’s leader gave a number of executive assignments on the pier adjacent territory improvement. Then, in the frames of his working trip to the country’s western region, the President of Turkmenistan made a helicopter round of the “Avaza” Tourist Zone to become acquainted with the implementation progress of ongoing works on creating in the resort of the appropriate tourism, hospitality and socio-economic infrastructure, as well as with fast-track construction of the key infrastructural object of the Turkmen coast and of Turkmenistan’s entire transport-logistics system – Turkmenbashi International Seaport. From the helicopter, the head of state Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov examined three new amusement parks: “Älemgoşar”, “Deňiz merjeni” and “Jadyly kenar” - an excellent gift to thousands of holidaymakers, first of all for children, in the height of summer season. The presidential helicopter made a circle above the cottage complex built by the Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Union. Having examined the condition of recent forest plantations between the seashore and the Avaza River, the nation’s leader assigned to expand the areas planted to trees. Then, the presidential helicopter made a circle above the construction site in the center of Avaza etrap to examine the construction progress of administrative buildings of khyakimlik, the departments of community facilities, police and fire security services, a 320-seat comprehensive school tooled with multimedia technologies, a 160-seat kindergarten, Health House, eight 4-storey 200-apartment dwelling houses. Having focused on the necessity of stepping up the paces of works, the nation’s leader highlighted that every facility erected in Avaza should harmoniously blend in with the seaside resort zone’s architectural space. From the helicopter, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov got acquainted with the construction progress of Turkmenbashi International Seaport. According to “The 2020-General Plan for the Turkmenbashi International Seaport and Turkmen Maritime Fleet Development”, the new international port (138.5 hectare total area) will partly jut out into the offshore zone. The International Seaport project (over 1,200,000 sq m total area) provides for construction of the ferry, passenger and cargo terminals. Total length of the seaport’s mooring line will be 3,607 meters. Along with the waterfront hydraulic structures, the project involves construction of numerous coastal infrastructure objects, including transport ones: highways with multi-level junctions and railroads. Tooled with the state-of-the-art equipment, the seaport will create the most favorable conditions for the European countries’ outlet to the commodity and raw material markets of Middle East and the Indian Ocean basin countries, enabling to significantly reduce the distance and time for large-scale cargo traffic. The project also envisages expanding of the transport infrastructure in southern and eastern directions with the outlets to such large economic centers, as China, India, Pakistan, and the countries of the Asia-Pacific Region. Developed in compliance with “Green port” international standards, the seaport project will involve a great amount of dredging work for deepening the port’s water area (in particular, the removal of 7,500,000 cubic meters of soil), to ensure safe passage of vessels to the moorings. The results of investigation conducted have proved ecological cleanness of the water area – a would-be location of the complex of port facilities, as well as absolute safety for the environment of moved soil which is planned to be used for construction of an artificial island 4 kilometers away from the port. The island will become a habitat for nestling and wintering of hundreds of thousands of birds. To this end, a 5,310-meter pipeline has been laid to transport sea soils and build the dams of 3,800-meter total length. Getting acquainted with the implementation progress of works, the head of state has stressed the necessity of taking the most responsible approach to construction of both main and support facilities of the transport complex, including power and engineering infrastructure, which should meet the highest international standards. At the same time, placing heavy stress on the necessity of preserving ecological well-being of the area, the nation’s leader has demanded from the relevant executives to ensure strict control over the water area condition during the construction works and over observance of the nature protection laws. After the get-acquainted tour, the leader of nations summed up the tasks assigned. Having clearly defined the priority present-day objectives of the Avaza’s modern social infrastructure further improvement and development, the head of state wished the senior executives success in tackling the tasks set. That same day President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov returned to Ashgabat.