Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Oct. 24 / Trend H. Hasanov /
The investments in the industry for the next five years will be used to achieve the main goal of eliminating the dependence of the economy on fuel and raw materials, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov's statement published in the local newspapers said today.
"This is the basic principle of independent Turkmenistan's economic development," the statement said. "This principle gives great opportunities for steady movement forward to the ongoing modernization of the national economy structure."
It is planned to master more than 200 billion manat investments in sectors of public and private sectors in 2012-2016 to build and reconstruct over 450 Industrial facilities and support systems.
President Berdimuhamedov stressed that besides the implementation of large oil and gas projects, there are investment projects in chemical industry, building materials, medical and light industries.
The capacity will be created in industrial sector to produce such new products as caustic soda, chlorine and its derivatives, potash fertilizers, building materials made of polyurethane, facing tiles, high-grade glass, insulation composite materials of very thin basalt fiber used in building.
The current facilities, construction and commissioning of 200 new small, medium and large enterprises will create many new jobs, expand exports, reduce the costs of imports.
The Turkmen leader said that it is planned to expand the infrastructure of the industrial sector by developing the commercially viable mineral deposits - hard ores and minerals. In particular, it is planned to modernize the plants producing finished products by processing hydro-mineral resources of Garabogazgol used for medicinal purposes. The production capacity will be increased to produce food and non-food products through processing the agricultural raw materials.
"International experience shows that it is necessary to establish a high-tech production of chemicals, as well as by using hydrocarbon raw materials to significantly increase the volumes of the national industry, the dynamic development of its industries through diversification," President Berdimuhamedov said.
There are gas fields, containing ethane, in Turkmenistan. This creates favorable conditions for gas and chemical industry. For example, the construction of a gas chemical complex for 4-5 years will lead to the widespread production of polyethylene and polypropylene.
The synthesis of these facilities will create the conditions for the production of different types of polymers used as means of production for hundreds of items of industrial production, as well as the production of products, which is raw material base for rubber and rubber production.
The Turkmen president stressed that the establishment of developed gas and chemical facility is another important area that can replace the export of natural gas through the pipelines.
"As you know, the geopolitical situation and the drop in oil prices have the negative impact on the export of natural gas through pipelines," the statement said. "Natural gas prices and the global financial crisis are connected with oil prices."
"In the future, we must further intensify our efforts to attract foreign investments in the national economy," President Berdimuhamedov said.
According to British Petroleum (BP), Turkmenistan ranks fourth on natural gas reserves in the world after Russia, Iran and Qatar. At this stage, the country exports natural gas to China, Iran and Russia.