OREANDA-NEWS. November 03, 2011. The International conference on the Promotion of Financial System and Banking Activity in Turkmenistan dedicated to the 20th anniversary of independence of Turkmenistan and the 18th anniversary of the introduction of the national currency unit – Turkmenistan manat took place at the President Hotel in Ashgabat.

The forum brought together the cabinet ministers, heads of sectoral ministries and departments, state and joint-stock commercial banks, the Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists, financial education institutions and the heads and representatives of foreign embassies accredited to Turkmenistan and international financial structures.

The delegations of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector arrived in the Turkmen capital to take part in the forum. The delegations of such well-known banks as Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, the China Development Bank and the Japan Bank for

International Cooperation had arrived in Ashgabat to participate in the forum. The forum participants represented the Central Banks of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, the National Banks of the Swiss Confederation, the Republic of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republic of Latvia and the world’s leading companies such as De La Rue, The Royal Mint Limited, Superfund Asset Management GMBH, Oberthur Fiduciaire UK LTD, Landqart AG, Cleave & Company Limited, Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, TSYS Card Tech Limited, Colvir Software Solutions Limited, CJSC Moskovsky Teleport, BNP Paribas (Suisse), Inpas Payment Solutions, Kusters Engineering B.V., Xinjiang.

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov welcomed participants of the international conference and congratulated banking specialists of Turkmenistan. In his address congratulating on 18th anniversary of the introduction of the national currency unit and the opening of the forum, the Turkmen leader underlined the importance of the ongoing fundamental reforms in modernization of the national financial and banking systems. The President of Turkmenistan noted that a crucial role in promoting the banking sector was assigned to cooperation based on mutually beneficial relations with the authoritative international financial organisations which had been significantly expanded in the epoch of new Revival and great changes.

The forum agenda focused on the important issues regarding the development and integration of the Turkmen banking system in the world financial community, the current trends in the spheres of bank supervision and regulation and the ways to optimize the investment activity.

Speaking during the forum, Turkmen and foreign specialists noted that during the years of independence Turkmenistan had implemented the ambitious reforms and made significant progress in the political, social, economic, cultural and other spheres. The measures taken in recent years served as a crucial factor in social and economic progress of the country. These included the formation of a workable regulatory framework, the financial reform, the balanced exchange rate, the denomination of manat and the introduction of financial reporting standards and innovative technologies to the payment system of Turkmenistan.

It was noted that today Turkmen banking institutions carry out the intense activity to finance projects aimed at developing the priority sectors of the national economy, encouraging entrepreneurship through concessional lending of the private sector, provide long-term mortgage credits and render advanced banking services to clients.

Turkmenistan managed to avoid the negative effects of the global financial and economic crisis and laid a firm foundation for a socio-economic growth due to the well thought-out innovatory policy pursued by the Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov which is known for the ambitious changes in all spheres of life of the society and state.

A vivid illustration of the success of the ongoing reforms is the high evaluation and optimistic forecast for Turkmenistan’s economic growth made by experts of the world’s authoritative financial structures, in particular the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Foreign participants noted that the ongoing large-scale reforms in Turkmenistan aimed at modernization of the national economy had enabled it to rank among dynamically developing countries. It was emphasized that this factor along with rich natural resources and favourable geographic location of the country as well as President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s peace-building and constructive policy let to speak with confidence about the great future of Turkmenistan.

The representatives of the world’s leading financial organisations delivered the reports on international practices of the development of the banking system and financial market, the private sector and the application of the principles of Islamic finance the private sector and presented an overview of the tends in global and economic development.