d M.
MILES
embassy: No. 9 1984 Street (formerly Pushkin Street), Ashgabat,
Turkmenistan 744000
mailing address: 7070 Ashgabat Place, Washington, DC 20521-7070
telephone: [993] (12) 35-00-45
FAX: [993] (12) 39-26-14

Flag description:

green field with a vertical red stripe near the hoist side,
containing five tribal guls (designs used in producing carpets)
stacked above two crossed olive branches; a white crescent moon
representing Islam with five white stars representing the regions or
welayats of Turkmenistan appear in the upper corner of the field
just to the fly side of the red stripe

Economy
Turkmenistan

Economy - overview:

Turkmenistan is a largely desert country with intensive agriculture
in irrigated oases and large gas and oil resources. One-half of its
irrigated land is planted in cotton; formerly it was the world's
10th-largest producer. Poor harvests in recent years have led to an
almost 50% decline in cotton exports. With an authoritarian
ex-Communist regime in power and a tribally based social structure,
Turkmenistan has taken a cautious approach to economic reform,
hoping to use gas and cotton sales to sustain its inefficient
economy. Privatization goals remain limited. From 1998-2005,
Turkmenistan suffered from the continued lack of adequate export
routes for natural gas and from obligations on extensive short-term
external debt. At the same time, however, total exports rose by an
average of roughly 15% per year from 2003-07, largely because of
higher international oil and gas prices. Overall prospects in the
near future are discouraging because of widespread internal poverty,
a poor educational system, government misuse of oil and gas
revenues, and Ashgabat's reluctance to adopt market-oriented
reforms. In the past, Turkmenistan's economic statistics were state
secrets. The new government has established a State Agency for
Statistics, but GDP numbers and other figures are subject to wide
margins of error. In particular, the rate of GDP growth is
uncertain. Since his election, President BERDIMUHAMEDOW has sought
to improve the health and education systems, ordered unification of
the country's dual currency exchange rate, begun decreasing state
subsidies for gasoline, signed an agreement to build a gas line to
China, and created a special tourism zone on the Caspian Sea. All of
these moves hint that the new post-NYYAZOW government will work to
create a friendlier foreign investment