Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Turkmenistan Passes New Foreign Investment Law
Turkmenistan may begin liberalizing its tightly closed economy with a new edition of the law “On Foreign Investment” that will allow foreigners to acquire real estate and enterprises. Foreign investors will also have the right to form joint enterprises and to form their own enterprises. The national currency will be redenominated as well. The changes are cosmetic, however.
Former deputy prime minister and head of the Central Bank of Turkmenistan Khudaiberdi Orazov compared the texts of the old and new versions of the law and noted that the possibility of foreigners founding enterprises in Turkmenistan existed before. “The letter of the law did not mean anything before, and it still doesn't,” Orazov commented. “Unfortunately, everything depends on a personal agreement with the authorities in Turkmenistan.”
Another source familiar with the law noted that problems remain with taxation and currency regulation, so the law provides little for foreign investors. The types of enterprises that foreigner can buy have not been specified. Hardly any market reforms have been carries out in Turkmenistan, the foreign exchange rate is fixed and the black market is booming.
Orazov called the law “an imitation” and “PR.” “The new authorities are only trying to legalize their regime in the West,” he concluded.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 15, 2007
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