TURKMENISTAN MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000038 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB USTDA FOR STEIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2019 TAGS: PREL ECPS EIND TBIO TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ON BOARD FOR ICT ORIENTATION VISIT REF: 08 ASHGABAT 1642 Classified By: Charge Richard Miles, per reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (SBU) Minister of Communications, Resulberdi Hojagurbanov, said at a January 7 meeting with the Director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) Europe and Eurasia, Daniel Stein, that the Ministry has great interest in the proposed orientation visit for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) specialists planned for March 2009 (reftel). He added that the Cabinet of Ministers had already discussed it. Hojagurbanov stated that the draft presentation prepared in advance for Turkmenistan was interesting and said that they would fill it out as soon as possible. He offered to add to the presentation some information on the television tower that is projected to be completed in 2011 and which will broadcast 15 channels using state-of-the-art technology. He added that the President wants to expand Internet use to all levels of society. He also said that Turkmenistan currently has two cellular telephone service providers -- Altyn Asyr and MTS (Russia) -- and that the country is looking to add additional service providers. Hojagurbanov said that the U.S. information technology sector is very developed and that Turkmenistan can learn a lot from U.S. companies. He mentioned in closing that the Turkmen delegation would like to meet specifically with Hewlett Packard and Network Solutions. ¶3. (SBU) Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Palvan Taganov, said in a meeting on January 8 that his trips to the United States (on a State Department program) and Europe have been useful, and that he would appreciate the opportunity to visit trade shows in the United States or to meet with counterparts to learn about U.S. trade show business practices, with an emphasis on marketing of trade shows. Taganov said that he was aware of the U.S.-Turkmenistan Business Council, but said that he has not met anyone from the Council. He said that exposure to foreign experience convinced him to make membership in the Chamber voluntary. The Chamber is comprised of both public and private companies and organizations. After Stein asked him -- twice -- how many companies belong to the Chamber, Taganov said about 150. Taganov added that he hopes that some Turkmen companies will attend a trade show in the U.S. sometime in 2009. Taganov added that Turkmenistan's trade shows are famousall over the world and that his organization receives calls from people looking for information on the shows well in advance. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informally notified post on January 9 that the Cabinet of Ministers approved the orientation visit, so it appears to be on track. While organizers of this visit should not point it out to the Turkmen delegation, the visit will be an eye-opening experience for the Turkmen, both on the level of business and technology. For example, the scope of Turkmenistan's knowledge of the U.S. technology industry appears to focus on Hewlett Packard, Cisco Systems, and Internet domain name registration, and in reality, those companies comprise only a fraction of what is available just in Silicon Valley. END COMMENT. MILES