ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Jan.16
By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:
Asian Development Bank (ADB) aims to become a reliable partner for Turkmenistan, announced ADB Country Director for Turkmenistan Chang Ching Yu, Trend reports referring to Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper.
Cooperation between ADB and Turkmenistan marks its 20th anniversary this year, the report said. The main goal of Bank's activity in the country is to diversify the economy of Turkmenistan, as well as to transform it into an important link in regional cooperation.
To achieve these strategic goals, ADB, together with Turkmenistan, has finalized operational programs for 2020-2022 covering such important tasks as supporting the country's power lines and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, improving railway operations, increasing the volume of local banks’ loans to representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises and promoting the development of the healthcare sector
ADB’s development partnership with Turkmenistan began in 2000. In November 2018, ADB approved the Country Operations Business Plan in Turkmenistan for 2019-2021, with committed lending amounting to $150 million and another $690 million for prospective projects to develop the country’s transport and transit potential, promote energy exports, and advance private sector operations.
ADB’s efforts in Turkmenistan’s energy sector are aligned with the government’s priorities to improve sector profitability and economic growth by increasing the export base.
Turkmenistan, according to BP report, ranks fourth in terms of natural gas reserves in the world and currently exports it to China and Russia.