Head of The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Resident Office in Turkmenistan, Fatih Turkmenoglu, told regarding the support for Turkmenistan in exploring its export potential, writes Trend.

“The EBRD “Advice for Small Businesses” program organized an online meeting of Turkmen producers with potential partners from the neighboring Central Asian countries on October 20, 2022. The online meeting was part of the series of export promotion events for local small and medium enterprises (SMEs)”, he said.

Turkmenoglu noted that the EBRD “Advice for Small Businesses Program in Turkmenistan” has been funded by the EU since December 2014, and also added that the aim of the series was to strengthen the export potential of local SMEs through a series of export promotion activities aimed at improving knowledge about export-related concepts and facilitating the search for partners in the Central Asia region and Mongolia.

“The Series of events was based on the results of the Review of Markets in Central Asia and Mongolia for Turkmen exporters implemented in 2020 and 2021. As part of the export promotion activities, the team selected companies wishing to export to Central Asian countries and trained them through 6 interactive seminars on various topics related to the export and development of advertising materials”, the head of the representative office stressed.

He added that later a consultant hired by the EBRD developed profiles of selected Turkmen SMEs for foreign partners and assisted them in the preparation of presentations for online meetings.

“The online business meeting enabled 9 local enterprises to present their products to 30 potential partners from the Central Asian region and answer their questions. The EBRD is currently processing requests received as a result of the online meeting. The results of the Series will be evaluated within the next 6 months”, said the head of the representative office.

Turkmenoglu said that the key area of the EBRD's activity is the development of the private sector of Turkmenistan, and also added that the bank is ready to consider the possibility of expanding its activities in the field of infrastructure and financial institutions.

“The global crisis affects Turkmen exporters who only recently started developing their expertise in this area. These days they have to reconsider logistics on the regular basis, look for new export markets and adjust to the changing environment. In this respect, it is very important to invest in the further development of export-oriented enterprises in Turkmenistan through finance and advisory support”, he stressed.

The EBRD will continue to support small and medium-sized entrepreneurs who are already exporting or are interested in starting export activities in order to contribute to the country's economy.

The intensification of export operations leads to the diversification of economic activity and an increase in the inflow of hard currency into the country. Ultimately, the Turkmen economy becomes macro-economically more resilient, the head of the representative office concluded.