SCHOLASTIC BOOKS DISCOVERS THE COMPLEXITIES OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001346 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2018 TAGS: PREL ECON ETRD SCUL TX SUBJECT: SCHOLASTIC BOOKS DISCOVERS THE COMPLEXITIES OF ENTERING TURKMENISTAN'S BUSINESS MARKET Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1. 4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (C) The Amcit International Business Development Manager of U.S. children's book publisher Scholastic, Inc. participated in Turkmenistan's Third Annual International Publishing Fair as an invited guest of the State Publishing Service, October 7-10. Scholastic was the sole U.S. publisher represented at the event. In a meeting held on the fringes of the book fair, the representative said that the Turkmen government did not grant her any of the official meetings that she requested through post, including the Supreme Council for Science and Technology and the National Library. One individual showed interest in purchasing a quantity of 200 games that he would then sell at a local retail market, but did not follow up. Scholastic is donating the books on display at the show to the National Library. ¶2. (C) Russian publishers license Scholastic Books for distribution in Russian-speaking countries. The representative said that Scholastic would like to find distributors throughout Central Asia for English-language publications, and that this fair is a first step towards that goal. She said that the Central Asian market is ripe to develop and that Scholastic wants to make inroads, adding that the support of post is vital because they don't have contact with any local organizations. She also mentioned that, given the small size of the market for Turkmen-language publications, the Turkmen government would need to subsidize the publication of Scholastics books in Turkmen in order for it to be financially feasible. The company representative did make contact with Ashgabat International School but mentioned that prohibitive international shipping rates -- generally averaging 40 percent of the total cost of the books -- usually made holding Scholastic's trademark book fairs not profitable in foreign markets. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: Scholastic's experience sums up the sometimes ambivalence of Turkmenistan's government to foreign businesses: invited by the government, but yet not able to meet with government organizations, which constitute the only viable customers. It shows that, despite some progress, Turkmenistan still has much work to do in order to make its business environment more welcoming. END COMMENT. CURRAN