VZCZCXYZ2572
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAH #0303/01 0651139
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051139Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0380
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 3465
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1283
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1150
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1719
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2287

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000303 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB 
USTDA FOR DAN STEIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR EAGR ECON EIND ELTN IR TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  USTDA EXPLORES OPPORTUNITIES 
 
REF: ASHGABAT 0077 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  In an effort to explore the potential for 
using U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) programs to 
promote U.S. equipment manufacturer sales to Turkmenistan, a 
USTDA delegation met with Turkmen Motor Roads State Concern, 
the Ministry of Motor Transportation, and the Ministry of 
Railway Transportation on February 28 and 29.  Ministry 
officials discussed upcoming plans for construction, trade, 
and industrial development at these introductory meetings, 
including some opportunities for U.S. companies to 
participate in tenders.  USTDA's next step would be to 
propose sending a technical specialist to consult with each 
ministry's technical staff to assess needs and potential for 
assistance.  Ministry officials were largely noncommittal, 
but as usual, promised to consider all concrete proposals. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) U.S. Trade Development Agency (USTDA) Regional 
Director for Europe and Eurasia Dan Stein and Regional 
Officer Jamie Merriman conducted a February 27-29 exploratory 
visit focused on identifying the potential for using USTDA 
programs to promote sales by U.S. equipment manufacturers to 
Turkmenistan.  On February 28, Stein and Merriman met with 
Turkmen Motor Roads Concern Head of International Relations 
Nury Taganklychev, Head of Production and Technical Works 
Hakim Shamuradov, and Zinaida Sumenkova of the Economic 
Department.  Shamuradov explained that this agency is 
responsible for road construction, as well as repair and 
maintenance of existing roads and bridges.  Turkmenistan 
finances all highway projects internally, at a price of about 
four billion manat (approximately $200,000 at the current 
commercial exchange rate) per kilometer.  Current projects 
include the Ashgabat-Turkmenbashy highway (585 kilometers), 
the Ashgabat-Karakum-Dashoguz highway (530 kilometers), and 
the Ashgabat-Mary-Turkmenabat highway (600 kilometers). 
These highways will have three lanes running in each 
direction, and will be used primarily to for commercial 
transport.  Shamuradov explained that factories located in 
Dashoguz and Ashgabat manufacture enough asphalt and concrete 
to satisfy domestic needs.  There are no plans to upgrade 
these factories, since they were built recently using German 
technology. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Stein and Merriman met with Ministry of Railway 
Transportation officials on February 29:  Transportation 
Department Head Durdy Chopanov, Economic Department Head 
Ahmed Atamammedov, and International Department Head 
Shaguliyev.  Chopanov asked for details of the USTDA programs 
that have been undertaken in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, but 
made clear that his primary project at hand was the 
presidentially decreed international rail line that is to 
extend from Western Kazakhstan through Western Turkmenistan 
to Iran (reftel).  Chopanov noted that the Ministry already 
had issued international tenders for its construction, to 
include telecommunications work, locomotive equipment, 
stations, maintenance, and switching facilities.  He said 
that the Ministry will build the northernmost two-thirds of 
the new rail line.  Chinese, Turkish and Russian companies 
had expressed interest in bidding on the southernmost third 
of the line.  Chopanov said that the Ministry is considering 
electrification of the railway to get away from diesel 
technology.  All the information on the Ministry's project 
plans is included in the tender announcements, according to 
Chopanov. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Minister of Motor Transportation Gurbanmurat 
Hanguliyev said on February 28 that the 300 buses that the 
Ministry already purchased from Iran are not enough to fully 
stock Turkmenistan's public bus system, and that his priority 
is to procure additional buses.  Hangulyev noted that only 
30% of bus and 20% of taxi services are provided by the 
public sector, because many of the vehicles inherited after 
the breakup of the Soviet Union were in such disrepair.  The 
Iranian bus manufacturer is in the process of setting up a 
center where its staff will train Turkmen to repair the 
buses.  The Ministry is negotiating for a fleet of cargo 
trucks that will be based in Turkmenbashy.  Hanguliyev said 
that the Ministry's policy is to purchase vehicles in small 
numbers before committing to large purchases to ensure the 
equipment is able to operate in Turkmenistan's harsh 
conditions.  Hanguliyev also mentioned that there is a plan 
to construct a major highway parallel to the planned 
Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran rail line.  (BIO NOTE: 
Hanguliyev was a colleague of President Berdimuhamedov at the 
Ministry of Healthcare.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶6.  (SBU) COMMENT:  The government arranged most of the 
meetings on very short notice -- in some cases, with only 15 
minutes' lead time -- and most of the officials involved were 
clearly unprepared for the discussions.  The fact that 
officials expressed at least some willingness to consider 
USTDA proposals argues in favor of sending a specialist to 
conduct a definitional mission.  However, construction -- 
whether of roads, railways, or buildings -- is one of 
Turkmenistan's most corruption-ridden sectors, and we may 
well find that, even though the president has said he wants 
to see U.S. companies enter the construction sector and even 
with using USTDA training or development programs as a 
sweetener, U.S. companies -- who must operate under rules 
that their Turkish, Russian, and Chinese counterparts do not 
-- may have a tough time breaking into this already 
well-defined market.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶7.  (U) Stein did not have an opportunity to clear this cable 
but authorized sending it. 
HOAGLAND