Innovative development expands Turkmenistan's foreign trade geography
Turkmenistan maintains foreign economic relations with more than 110 countries of the world. In 2014-2016, the positive growth trends is observed in dynamics of the country's foreign trade turnover.
According to expert estimates, Turkmenistan's external turnover in the period from 2014 to the 1H 2017, compared with 2007, increased by 1.5-2.7 times and exceeded US $ 92.5 billion.
The top ten major trading partners of Turkmenistan includes China, Turkey, Iran, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Afghanistan, Great Britain, Republic of Korea and Japan. The aggregate turnover with these countries for the period under review is estimated at US $ 74 billion, while the foreign trade surplus was registered in export-import transactions with China ($ 15.5 billion), Iran (more than $ 3.2 billion), Russia (more than $ 1.3 billion ), Italy ($ 3.5 billion) and Afghanistan ($ 2.4 billion).
Turkmenistan pursues foreign economic policy, aimed at increasing exports and gradual reducing imports, which is in line with the tasks identified in the State programs on import substitution and export-oriented production.
To date, a steady growth in both physical volumes and in value terms has been formed in such items of Turkmen exports as petroleum products (kerosene, fuel oil, lubricating oils), electricity, textile goods (cotton fabrics), leather raw materials, wheat.
The import structure is dominated by industrial and technical products – processing machinery, equipment for various purposes, electricals and mechanical devices. The demand for these goods is necessitated by the progressive innovative development of virtually all sectors of the economy.
This, in turn, has led to the expansion of the European direction in Turkmenistan's foreign trade and the emergence in recent years of Great Britain and Italy in the list of major partners, say experts.
At the same time, the analysis of official statistics for H1 2017 indicates decline in imports of raw materials and non-food consumer goods, as well as drop in the value of imports of most types of food due to the saturation of the market with domestic production.
