Constitutional Law on Approval of new edition of Constitution of  Turkmenistan adopted at session of Council of Elders

ArmInfo. The Council of Elders of Turkmenistan has convened in Ashgabat, the press-office of the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Armenia told ArmInfo.

At the opening of the session the President of Turkmenistan  Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov delivered a speech.

In his speech, the president presented a broad picture of the  country's achievements over 25 years of its independent development  in political, social-economic, and humanitarian fields, and assessed  the current state of the country and society.

Speaking about achievements in social and economic area, President of  Turkmenistan, in particular, noted that over the past 25 years in the  country, investments worth 144 billion US dollars have been  developed, 544 large facilities of industrial and non-industrial  purpose have been constructed and commissioned.

The volume of foreign trade turnover in comparison to 1995 increased  8 times. Turkmenistan carried out two large-scale energy projects -  Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline and Turkmenistan-Iran gas pipeline.  In December 2015 construction of  Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline has  begun.

It was noted in the speech that since 2007 fundamental reforms in the  national economy, financial and banking systems have been started.  Thus, today the state strategy of accelerated transformation of  Turkmenistan from primarily agrarian state into a developed  industrial power with high level of technological and production  cycle is becoming a reality.  Private sector is developing at high  rates in industry, agriculture, construction, services sector and  other spheres. To date, the share of non- state sector in the  structure of GDP amounted to 68% (excluding energy sector). The total  number of non-state enterprises reached 25,000.

The Constitutional Law on Approval of the new edition of the  Constitution of Turkmenistan is adopted at the session of the Council  of Elders.

Adoption of the Constitutional Law has become a logical continuation  of the Constitutional reform, initiated in the country, and aimed at  further improvement of political system, stage-by-stage  democratization of the state and society, in particular, envisaging  political diversity and multiparty system. One of the important  results of this process is introduction in Turkmenistan - for the  first time in the country's history - of a position of Ombudsman for  human rights.

Adoption of the Constitutional Law was preceded by its wide  discussion within political parties, public organizations, and work  collectives. During preparation of the new Law, proposals and wishes  received from citizens of the country were taken into account, the  source reports.