LITTLE CHANGE IN COMPANY AND GRANT REGISTRATION PROCEDURES

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001071 SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY),EB/CBA (WINSTEAD/WALTERS),EB/IFD/OIA (ROSELI),L/CID (DAUGHTRY) ALMATY FOR SCHAAG SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: BEXP BTIO ETRD EINV KIDE TX SUBJECT: LITTLE CHANGE IN COMPANY AND GRANT REGISTRATION PROCEDURES Summary -------------- ¶1. A decree announced September 9 abolished the independent office charged with approving and registering foreign investment, grants and company listings, and transferred its functions to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. To date the shift has had little discernable impact on USAID or Public Diplomacy grantee activities. End summary. A Bureaucratic Reshuffle... -------------- ¶2. A decree announced September 9 abolished the State Service for Foreign Investment, known by its previous acronym SAFI, and transferred its functions to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF). From its founding in 1996, SAFI evaluated and approved potential foreign investment projects in accordance with Government of Turkmenistan priorities. In recent years, SAFI also registered foreign and domestic companies, other legal entities and foreign grants. ...Generating Little Substantive Change -------------- ¶3. Aside from the shifting of personnel and the renaming of the office, preliminary feedback indicates that the changes will have only minor effects on companies, investments and other projects. A SAFI employee advised embassy that the company and investment project registration procedure, as adopted by a 2005 presidential decree, will remain in place and that there will be no changes other than the registration system's accountability. A MOEF employee informed a USAID staff member that the change would not have any impact on current grant procedures, and that grant recipients will continue to register as they did previously with no expected delays. A subsequent conversation with a Counterpart staff member revealed no significant delays or problems with the recent registration of a USAID grant. Feedback from two Public Diplomacy grantees currently registering their grants uncovered no formidable changes to procedures. Rumors that existing companies and projects would need to be reregistered appear to have been unfounded. Comment -------------- ¶4. The absorption of SAFI into the larger MOEF bureaucracy so far has had no ill effects on foreign firms or U.S. programs in Turkmenistan. Post will remain attuned to any adverse developments relating to the new mechanisms. End Comment. TROUTMAN