President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, at an expanded meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers held on July 8, focused on the need to further accelerate the process of development and improvement of national legislation, which will make it possible to take consistent steps to optimize the political system and strengthen the country’s economy.

In accordance with the tasks outlined by the head of state and in accordance with the Resolution of the Halk Maslakhaty of the Milli Gengesh “On the plan of joint actions and running events in 2022 in the main fields of concern of the Halk Maslakhaty and the Mejlis of the Milli Gengesh of Turkmenistan”, new laws are being developed and the existing ones are being improved.

In this regard, it is appropriate to recall that in 2020, amendments and additions were made to the country’s Basic Law, the legal framework for the bicameral parliamentary system was created, elections of members of the Halk Maslakhaty of the Milli Gengesh of Turkmenistan were successfully held in accordance with the new provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Code. This historic event was a new step in the development of the representative and legislative bodies of our country and facilitated the achievement of a qualitatively new level of their activities, an even greater upgrading the adopted laws and regulations, the head of state noted.

Members and deputies of the Milli Gengesh, along with strengthening the legal foundations of a democratic state, a fair civil society, improving law-making activities, carry out important work related to the development of democracy in the country, the fulfillment of Turkmenistan’s international obligations in the field of human rights.

In addition, in order to improve legislative activity, recently, within the framework of international and inter-parliamentary cooperation, members of the Halk Maslakhaty and the Mejlis have participated in a number of major international forums, numerous seminars, working meetings organized jointly with relevant ministries, UN structural units and other authoritative organizations.

Laws developed in accordance with the priority directions of state policy are preliminarily studied in the working commissions established in the Mejlis with the participation of representatives of ministries and sectoral departments, and then submitted for consideration at regular meetings of parliamentarians.

Thus, an interested exchange of views took place in May of the last year during the discussion of the draft Law “On Public-Private Partnership”. As noted, in recent years, a lot of work has been done in the country to create favorable legal, economic and financial conditions for the dynamic development of small and medium-sized businesses, comprehensive support for entrepreneurship, private initiatives. This includes improving the tax system, simplifying the procedure for registering and licensing business activities, and concessional lending.

Among the most important tasks of parliamentarians are the adoption of new, improvement of the existing legislative acts aimed at increasing the efficiency of industries in a market economy, their active integration into the global economic space, support for the entrepreneurial initiative of citizens, investment activity of domestic companies.

In this context, the new Law, defining the legal basis of public-private partnership, the ways of its implementation and regulating the relations arising in the process of preparation and implementation of this project, is of great importance. One of the goals of this document is to create legal conditions for the concentration of material, financial, intellectual, scientific, technical and other resources, ensure a balance of interests and risks, and to attract funds from extra-budgetary sources for the implementation of projects, plans and programs for the development of infrastructure facilities.

In general, cooperation between the state and the private sector is intended to promote the active participation of private business in the modernization and diversification of the national economy, creation of modern production facilities that produce products meeting international standards, and increase of the export potential of the country.

During the discussion of the draft Law of Turkmenistan “On Education” in the new edition, the deputies focused on the priorities of the state youth policy, the main goal of which is to ensure the harmonious development of the young generation, provide them with modern education, and educate them in the spirit of patriotism.

Today, the country continues the construction of various educational institutions equipped with computers, educational and technical appliances, interactive and multimedia technologies. The transition to 12-year schooling, the active introduction of the latest scientific achievements and innovative teaching methods into the educational process have led to an increase in the number of winners of prestigious international Olympiads, the expansion of cooperation with major scientific and educational centers of the world, and reputable organizations.

This was also facilitated by the inclusion in the schedule, along with basic subjects, such disciplines as fundamentals of economics, model building and graphics, information and communication and innovative technologies, cultural heritage of Turkmenistan, and world culture.

In this context, it was noted the importance of the newly drafted Law “On Education”, which regulates the legal basis of relations and defines the principles of state policy in this important area, as well as the goals, objectives, functions of the education system and the organizational basis for managing its activities.

At the same time, it was emphasized that the right to education is one of the basic and inalienable constitutional human rights. The improvement of education as the basis of spiritual, social, economic and cultural progress of society is a priority direction of development of Turkmenistan. In our country, the system of education and training of the younger generation is based on national and universal spiritual, moral, cultural and social values, the rules and norms of behavior adopted in Turkmen society in the interests of man, society and the state.

Then the parliamentarians were presented with the draft Law “On Brand Names”. As the speakers noted, large-scale programs for accelerated industrialization of regions, intensification of agriculture, development of small and medium-sized businesses, as well as protection of intellectual property rights are being successfully implemented today. Therefore, the number of new enterprises of various organizational and legal forms, including private firms and companies, is growing.

In general, all this determines the relevance of the new legislative act, which establishes requirements for the assignment of brand names to entrepreneurial legal entities of Turkmenistan, and regulates relations arising in the sphere of their legal protection.

At a meeting in October of the last year, the deputies considered the draft laws “On the Trust Management of State Property”, “On Postal Communications”, “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in Turkmenistan”, “On Accession to the Agreement on the Establishment of a Global Institute for Green Growth”.

As noted, the main objectives of these legal documents are loyalty and safeguarding interests of citizens and the state, promoting the further democratization of society, as well as the successful implementation of our country’s foreign policy strategy.

Thus, the Law of Turkmenistan “On the Trust Management of State Property” defines the goals, methods and procedure for the trust management of state property and regulates the legal relations that arise between the owner and the trustee in this process.

During the discussion of the draft Law “On Postal Communications”, it was noted that this document establishes the legal basis for activities in this area, as well as defines the rights and obligations of operators and users of postal services.

In the context of the main priorities of the State foreign policy, a draft Law “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in Turkmenistan” has been developed. This document defines the legal status of foreign citizens, stateless persons in our country, and also regulates relations arising in connection with their stay (residence) and their employment, business or other activities on the territory of Turkmenistan.

The draft Law of Turkmenistan “On Accession to the Agreement on the Establishment of the Global Institute for Green Growth” legislatively confirms accession to this document, adopted on June 20, 2012 in Rio de Janeiro and affirming the importance of integration of economic growth and environmental sustainability in the future of mankind.

When discussing the Law “On Amendments and Additions to the Law of Turkmenistan on Plant Quarantine” at the beginning of May of this year, the deputies stated that its adoption is aimed at implementing projects that contribute to preserving the diversity and beauty of the unique nature of the Motherland, ensuring the rational use of its resources. This draft law is also aimed at improving the relevant legislation in accordance with generally recognized norms of international law.

In July, parliamentarians considered a number of draft laws developed in accordance with the priorities of the state policy of President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and a comprehensive program to modernize the legislative and legal framework of the country.

Thus, during the discussion of the document “On e-Government”, it was emphasized that this draft law establishes the procedure for the activities of e-government and was developed in order to facilitate the implementation of the Concept of Digital Economy Development in Turkmenistan for 2019-2025.

The speakers noted that digitalization of public administration and public services is an integral component of the comprehensive development of the country.

The use of digital technologies makes it possible to increase the transparency of the activities of public authorities, make them more open and, at the same time, accessible to citizens, the parliamentarians highlighted.

An interested exchange of views took place during the discussion of the draft law “On Dog Breeding and Cynology Activity”. As noted, in recent years, large-scale activities have been carried out in the country to preserve the gene pool of Turkmen Alabai dogs, which, along with Akhal-Teke horses, are the historical and cultural heritage of the Turkmen people.

Increasing the effectiveness of the work carried out by parliamentarians on legislative support of strategic state programs and progressive democratic transformations is also one of the most important factors in strengthening the economic power of the national economic complex.

At the above-mentioned expanded meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers following the results of the first half of the year, the head of Turkmenistan, referring to the key aspects of the domestic political strategy, noted that a reliable fiscal and monetary policy is pursued in our country, the volume of investments in the private and public sectors is regularly increasing. Despite the difficulties taking place in the global economy, Turkmenistan maintains a high GDP growth rate, namely, at the level of 6 percent.

Large-scale construction of industrial and social-oriented facilities continues. So, about 2,900 objects with a total cost of over US$ 38 billion are currently being built.

In accordance with the National Rural Program of the President of Turkmenistan, over 1,300 million manats of capital investments were disbursed during the reporting period. As President Serdar Berdimuhamedov noted, over the past six months, 30 large structures, housing with a total area of 322 thousand square meters, including high-comfort residential buildings with a total cost of about 900 million manats, have been built and put into operation.

Industrial facilities, residential buildings, kindergartens, schools, and others were built and put into operation in the stipulated number.

The policy of diversification of supplies of Turkmen energy resources to world markets is being implemented according to the targeted plans. The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project and other regional projects are being successfully executed.

As part of the diversification of the national economy, state programs are being effectively materialized to increase the production of import-substituting products, bulk the exports of domestic goods, and create an electronic industry.

Speaking about this, the head of Turkmenistan also underlined the need to intensify efforts to reduce the share of the state in the economy and expand the share of the private sector in it.

Thus, the formation of the legal basis for the cardinal transformations envisaged in the Program “Revival of a new epoch of a powerful state: The National Program of Socio-Economic Development of Turkmenistan for 2022-2052”, consistent improvement of legislation are among the most important tasks set by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov to further improve the efficiency of industries in a market economy, their active integration into the world economic space.