FEAS Yearbook FEAS Yearbook 2002 | Page 73

FEDERATION OF EURO-ASIAN STOCK EXCHANGES > YEARBOOK 2002/2003 > PAGE 71 STATE COMMODITY & RAW MATERIALS EXCHANGE OF TURKMENISTAN The Exchange is one of the most important economic institutions of the country to date and acts as the main body for export and import operations, as well as a governmental regulator in the country. HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT The State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan (SC&RME) was created by decree of the President of Turkmenistan - Saparmurat Turkmenbashi - in 1994. The Exchange is one of the most important economic institutions of the country to date and acts as the main body for export and import operations, as well as a governmental regulator in the country. There are many indicators of activity of the Exchange. During 2002, 1286 export contracts for the sum of Manat 343.6 billion were registered. These figures are indicative of the favorable political and economic situation in Turkmenistan, our rich natural resources, and of utmost importance, the reliability and stability of state organizational structures to attract business from all over the world. The State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan keeps in touch with more than 21 countries. Businesspeople from Turkey, Moldova, China, Russia, the USA, Germany, Great Britain, UAE and the Ukraine among others, buy oil products, liquefied gas, cotton fiber, stockinet, cotton yarn, handmade Turkmen carpets, hides, and knitwear. An information and analytical system was created for the SC&RME to enable direct operational control of contract execution and for retrieval of necessary information. The InfoBase database will be developed to allow the retrieval of world quotations for the major significant commodities in real time and to facilitate potential marketing outlets for domestic commodity production. The following plans are currently underway: further development of external economic links with foreign trade companies; streamlining of the uses of PR companies and the services they provide in terms of mass media disclosure; expansion of external contacts with international and regional organizations; simplification of the contract registration procedure; and increasing in the level of skill and experience of the Exchange staff through interactions between organizations. FUTURE OUTLOOK According to the development priorities of the domestic and foreign wholesale trade, the Exchange has promoted several ideas. In 2003 there are plans to: conduct an integrated study assessing wholesale trade in the home market take actions to keep price increases to a minimum on the home market by encouraging competition. create a shared information network between the Exchange and all branch offices in the provinces, Jan-Oct 2002 Export vs Import (US$ millions) 350 350 250 300 200 250 150 200 150 100 50 Building materials 0 Machinery construction 100 50 0 Light industry Agricultural Petrochemistry 2001 2002 91.08% 400 1.26% (US$ millions) 300 0.84% 0.04% 6.78% 2001-2002 Export Industry Breakdown Jan-Oct 2002 Breakdown of 123 Auctions