Turkmenistan envoy highlights UAE aid

The UAE has been playing a major role in social and economic projects for the development of Turkmenistan, said a top diplomat of the CIS country here yesterday .

The emirates have been providing financial assistance in building economic infrastructure, mosques, orphanages and other projects, said Dr Pirdjan Kurbanov, Ambassador of Turkmenistan to the UAE.

A huge orphanage, which was built as a gift by the UAE in 1997, has been named after President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The place shelters some 350 children.

Turkmenistan is one of the youngest countries in the world which is a part of the CIS. The country will be celebrating its 10th Independence Day on October 27. It has a population of over five million, with the total area of 491,200 square kilometres.

The country was recognised as a "neutral state" by the UN General Assembly on December 12, 1995. "Our main goal is to build a prospering state and a society based on justice," he said, quoting the President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov.

The ambassador said diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and the UAE were established in 1995. Some one hundred Turkmenistani families are currently living in the UAE. The expatriates of Turkmenistan will celebrate their Independence Day in the UAE on October 27.

Dr Kurbanov said the occasion will be marked with the launch of a flight between Dubai and Ashgabat later this month. Turkmenistan Airlines currently operates two flights a week between Abu Dhabi and Ashgabat, he said, adding that tourism has the potential to grow between the two countries.