Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Aug. 21 / Trend H. Hasanov /
The Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs was founded in Ashgabat, with the participation of 300 delegates representing business organisations all over the country, the Turkmen government said on Tuesday.
Creation of a new party was made possible by the adoption earlier this year of the Turkmen law 'On political parties'.
As the session began, rules of the Congress were defined, as was its management team, the Secretariat and board members were elected.
The agenda was approved which included the following questions: the creation of the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan, the approval of its statute and programme, the election of the Central Council of the party, the chairman and vice-chairman of the party's Central Council and Auditing Commission.
According to the information, during the next voting the decision to form the new party was unanimously passed and its charter and programme approved.
Members of the Central Council and its president were elected. Orazmammed Mammadov, chief specialist of the party, was elected its president on an alternative basis.
Turkmenistan will make a gradual transition to a multi-party system, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov agreed this earlier in the year in an interview with the Russian Turkmenistan magazine, commenting on the recent adoption of a new law on political parties.
Turkmenistan has so far registered the only political organisation - the Democratic Party, led by Berdimuhamedov.
"The advent of the Political Parties Act which guarantees the possibility of transition to a multiparty political system was a logical step in the productive use of the constitutional instrument at a certain stage of development of a democratic society," the president said.
Berdimuhamedov drew attention "to a natural and harmonious nature of process in Turkmenistan", noting also that "in the modern world, democratisation processes are often not clear."
"There are a lot of examples of how under the guise of democratic slogans the destructive political and even frankly reactionary forces reach the political scene, sowing discord among the people and intolerance, leading to disunity and chaos," the president said.
Berdimuhamedov also noted that during the years of independence Turkmenistan "was able to maintain conflict free social development."
"And I'm sure the country will continue to pursue this course. Therefore, I see that the gradual introduction of a multiparty system is useful as another evolutionary tool for the maintenance of civil society in harmony and unity of aspirations on the path to prosperity," the Turkmen leader said.