At a working meeting on the development of a shopping complex held on Friday, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov demanded to provide the domestic market with an abundance of commodities, the State News Agency reported.

In particular, the head of state stated that compared to 2019, in 2020, in price terms, the volume of imports of beef decreased by 32.5 percent, potatoes - by 32.6 percent, tomato - by 94.4 percent, onion - by 8. 4 percent, fruit - 37.3 percent.

“However, the import of poultry meat increased by 6.9 percent, eggs - by 85.8 percent, vegetable oil - by 93.2 percent. This is an indicator that the steps we have outlined for the production of import-substituting products have not been fully implemented,” Berdimuhamedov said.

“In this regard, and taking into account the state of the world economy, it is necessary to consistently increase the volume of food products produced in the country. In particular, improve the provision of the domestic market with food and, first of all, essential goods, expand the range of services provided to the population, widely establish e-commerce and delivery services, and take measures to abundantly saturate markets and stores with food,” the Turkmen leader emphasized.

The President of Turkmenistan instructed the Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations Orazmyrat Gurbannazarov to keep under strict control the provision of the domestic market with food and essential goods, despite the state of the world economy, and to take urgent measures to ensure the abundance of goods in stores and markets.

Speaking about this, the head of state indicated to carefully analyze the prices of imported goods and establish direct contacts with their manufacturers.