Ashgabat, 27 January 2020: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations of Turkmenistan implement a joint project “Strengthening the Trade Capacity of Turkmenistan” aimed at stimulating export diversification, increasing the share of products with higher added value in the export structure and reducing the dependence of the national economy on imports.

Within the joint project UNDP and national partners organized the first mission of international expert Mr. Achim Seiler to explore functions of each trade related institution, including Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan,  Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan, the Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists of Turkmenistan, and assess the training needs of professional staff for capacity building in trade policy development.

“International trade policy development training will be organized based on needs of national partners for professional capacity improvement in order to start strengthening the trade capacity. This one is very crucial component of our project as it will kick off the whole process of the trade reform using local potential and focusing on national priorities,” noted Muhommet Hommayev, UNDP Project Manager.

The project also supports the development and implementation of measures aimed at ensuring effective access of Turkmen export products to foreign markets, including the introduction of new economic mechanisms for an integrated distribution system of goods from producer to final consumer. During the mission of international expert, partners also discussed the targeted markets and goods to be exported.

The 5-day training is expected to be developed and implemented for at least 30 national experts in early Spring 2020.