Turkmen president approves 2030-2045 National Strategy for Industrial Development

ASHGABAT. Sept 24 (Interfax) - Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov has approved a National Strategy for Industrial Development for 2030-2045, with the presidential order to this effect published in the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper on Thursday.

"Turkmenistan has a powerful industrial sector that ensures economic and sustainable development. In order to consistently implement measures to transform our country into an advanced industrial state, we need to adopt the National Strategy for Industrial Development of Turkmenistan for 2030-2045," the newspaper quoted Berdimuhamedov as saying at a meeting of the Turkmen People's Council on Wednesday.

"One of the key tasks is to modernize the operations of the oil and gas sector using advanced achievements," he said.

"Major projects to extract, process and export hydrocarbons and to develop new deposits form the core of the program," he said.

The Serhetabat-Herat section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is being built at a rapid pace, new facilities for the Turkmenbashi Oil Refinery Complex are under construction, and measures to upgrade the Seydi oil refinery are in progress, Berdimuhamedov said.

"The stage-by-stage development of Galkynysh, one of the world's largest natural gas deposits, continues successfully," the president said.

"Construction work as part of stage 4 of the development of the giant Galkynysh gas field was launched this year - the construction of a modern plant with a capacity of 10 [billion cubic meters] bcm of commercial gas a year. More than 1,000 new jobs will be created there soon. The full implementation of such a significant project will help increase deliveries of hydrocarbons, ensuring their reliable export," Berdimuhamedov said.

"The volume and range of products manufactured by the construction material sector have been growing steadily," the president said.

"We will launch a modern enterprise for the production of construction mortars and plasterboard items in the Lebap region this year, thus considerably strengthening the basis of the construction industry," he said.

New chemical plants are also under construction in the Balkan, Lebap and Dashoguz regions, he said.

"The energy sector's potential will grow seriously following the launch of a modern wind and solar hybrid power plant in the Balkan region this year," Berdimuhamedov said, adding that "a combined cycle power plant is also being built in this region at a rapid pace."