TURKMENISTAN: MEJLIS CHAIRMAN FOCUSES ON BUILDING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 001349

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL
AID/W FOR EE/AA (BOB WALLIN)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: MEJLIS CHAIRMAN FOCUSES ON BUILDING
LOCAL GOVERNMENT CAPACITY



1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: A delegation led by DRL Deputy Assistant
Secretary Erica Barks-Ruggles discussed parliamentary reform

SIPDIS
December 7 with the chairman of Turkmenistan's Mejlis
(Parliament),who focused her comments on the need to improve
the capacity and capabilities of local government bodies in
order to make them more self-sustaining and able to
strategically plan. She was especially interested in
learning more about how other former Soviet states have
undertaken cooperative local government reform but was
uninterested in parliamentary reform initiatives that would
benefit the current Mejlis staff. She also offered little in
the way of comment regarding a detailed parliamentary reform
proposal USAID had put forward in October. END SUMMARY.


3. (SBU) A delegation led by DRL Deputy Assistant Secretary
Erica Barks-Ruggles met with Mejlis Chairman Akja
Nurberdiyeva on December 7 to discuss developments in the
parliamentary body and to learn more about its plans in the
coming year. Nurberdiyeva was lively and engaging and shared
with the delegation some of the goals achieved thus far as
well as the breadth of legislative work that is ongoing.


4. (SBU) The Chairman recounted the most significant
projects the Mejlis has been occupied with, including
legislation to promote agricultural development and efforts
to help local government understand and implement legislation
approved in Ashgabat. Nurberdiyeva described a program that
the Mejlis is carrying out jointly with the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) to make local government bodies
more functional, noting that regional government bodies do
not understand -- and thus do not effectively apply -- laws
passed by the central government. According to Nurberdiyeva,
regional training seminars have already started, although
they are complex programs that require a great deal of
attention. Since President Berdimuhamedov declared the
development of regional government to be a high priority,
however, the Mejlis is giving the program the requisite
attention it needs. She mentioned also that a legislative
affairs exchange sponsored by UNDP at both the local and
national levels of government with Latvia not long ago had
been very useful because of Latvia's international grant
experience and because the two countries shared a common
experience as part of the former Soviet Union.


5. (SBU) When asked if U.S. legal experts might be of use
in the country's efforts to reform, Nurberdiyeva focused
almost exclusively on the goal of expanding the functionality
of local government bodies. She said there is great interest
in teaching local government bodies how to be more effective
and self-governing. She added that local government needs to
have its own agenda, understands strategic planning and
budgeting, and needs to learn to manage its own operations at
the grassroots level.


6. (SBU) According to Nurberdiyeva, while the Mejlis has
already begun analyzing the resources and capabilities of
local government, and is examining the experiences of model
countries like Latvia, it is also very interested in
identifying other countries with common histories and similar
conditions, in order to determine the best way forward.
Delegation head Erica Barks-Ruggles asked USG officials in
the delegation from USAID and EUR/ACE to describe to
Nurberdiyeva the type of assistance the U.S. government can
provide, depending on the facet of local government the
Mejlis wishes to focus on.


7. (SBU) USAID Regional Director Kim Delaney invited
Turkmen officials to come to the United States and learn
about how local governments operate there. She also noted

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that USAID has done similar work on the local level in both
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Nurberdiyeva said Turkmenistan's
government wants to change the way local governments operate
so that local bodies can plan how to strategically manage the
money they receive from the central government on their own.
However, the chairman added, the current government structure
is dependent on the center and is not self-sustaining. If
local governments could become self-sustaining, they can
build their own infrastructure. The government budgeted four
billion dollars not long ago to improve infrastructure
conditions in the regions, but local governments should be
taught to manage their own resources and promote their own
economic development, in part, so that youth there will have
a reason to stay in rural areas.


8. (SBU) The delegation told Nurberdiyeva about the work
that partner organizations like Counterpart are already doing
in fifteen locations around the country to promote community
empowerment. Such projects are on a small scale now, but
could be expanded and made more robust with the inclusion of
experts. Nurberdiyeva wanted to know more about local
government-oriented programs, but also asked for information
on the results of such programs after they have been
implemented elsewhere. She mentioned a project that theInstitute for Democracy and Human Rights had been involved in
that looked good on paper, but that had had little to show
for it ultimately, and no program evaluation opportunity at
the end. She said they want to consider proposals with
specific progress markers and a clear end goal.


9. (SBU) USAID reps said that such program information from
other former Soviet states could be provided. They mentioned
the success of one program in Kyrgyzstan, which had improved
the local government's functionality to such a degree that it
increased its tax revenues by some 20 percent. Nurberdiyeva
interrupted saying the government is not looking for
increased revenue as the result. It is most important, she
said, to think strategically. People need to be taught how
to catch fish rather than just be given fish.


10. (SBU) Nurberdiyeva said that, in the next six months,
the Mejlis will be looking at a wide range of legislative
areas that need reform: administrative procedures, the
family code, the housing code, trade and maritime laws, the
customs code, the lease law, and laws related to business and
investment. The body will also review laws on the media and
culture in the near term, and will look at possible reforms
of Turkmenistan's legal, or bar association. Delegation
members cited the U.S. government's track record in assisting
other former Soviet states with legislative reform in the
areas of tax, trade, investment and commercial codes,
including overhauls of the entire code or just one segment of
it.


11. (SBU) Nurberdiyeva indicated that there were specific
segments of the laws where she would like to focus future
cooperation. Growing interest in moving forward on economic
development and drawing more foreign investment is creating
new pressure for legal reform in these areas. The delegation
said they would provide information from projects done in
neighboring states, and also mentioned plans that are
underway to establish an office in Turkmenistan that will
make U.S. legal experts regularly available for consultation.
Nurberdiyeva responded very positively to this.


12. (SBU) The delegation reminded Nurberdiyeva that USAID
had sent a project proposal in late summer regarding direct
parliamentary reform work with the Mejlis. She indicated
that she had studied the proposal, but had not yet made any
decisions. The delegation encouraged her to contact post for
anything she needs regarding parliamentary reform.

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Nurberdiyeva said most of the proposals do not fit her needs
-- she wants to focus any institutional reform agenda on the
incoming Mejlis representatives who will be elected in
December 2008, rather than on the staff who are in the Mejlis
now. They have been engaged in Mejlis work for 15 years, and
don't need training, she said.


13. (SBU) COMMENT: Nurberdiyeva appeared to be very
enthusiastic about cooperating with U.S. organizations. That
said, her stated interest in local government, her hesitation
in responding to detailed USAID program proposals, and her
disinterest in projects to train the current Mejlis staff
show that she is quite clear on where she would be interested
in cooperating.


14. (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED: It is also interesting to note
that this was the second time in one week that post officers
received a message about making local government more
"self-sustaining," (rather than "independent"). The second
time this issue came up, it was included in a Neutralnyy
Turkmenistan article about the delegation's meeting with the
Central Election Commission. Although the topic was never
raised by either side during the meeting, the article
inaccurately reported that during the meeting, "it was
emphasized that one of the most important tasks facilitating
transformation is the formation in the country of an
effective multi-level vertical line of authority by means of
redistribution of power from the center to regional and local
structures." Local government empowerment is a relatively
new theme, so it will be interesting to see what priority the
government assigns to this lofty task. In the meantime, we
still await any firm response to our detailed proposals on
possible programs. END COMMENT.


15. (U) DAS Barks-Ruggles cleared this cable.

CURRAN