Turkmenistan’s Practitioners Discuss Issues of Development and Transition in Central Asia at UNDP Training Course

Ashgabat, 9 November 2009 – A core group of Turkmenistan’s practitioners coming from various national ministries and institutions have successfully passed the five-day “Economics of Transition” training course organized by the United Nations Development Programme and the National Institute of Strategic Planning and Economic Development (ISPED) of Turkmenistan. The course was conducted by Dr. Ben Slay, Senior Economist from UNDP’s Regional Centre for Europe and the CIS, from 2 to 6 November 2009.

The purpose of training was to enhance the participants’ understanding of the issues of political economy and macroeconomics of the countries in transition, regional cooperation in Central Asia and possible impact of the global financial crisis on the region as well as social, environmental and water-energy aspects of the Central Asian economies.

The training programme allowed for in-depth discussions of the above topics with the emphasis on the macroeconomic stabilization and creation of new regulatory institutions; strategies for mitigating the impact of the global financial crisis on Central Asia; macroeconomic instruments to address problems caused by the financial crisis; international economic relations in Central Asia and various institutional forms of global and regional integration and many other issues.

“The training has been very substantive and exciting, marked by excellent, constructive discussions on virtually all the course topics,” Dr. Slay said.  According to him, of greatest interest for the participants were the topics explaining advantages and disadvantages of economic and political institutions and policies pursued by Central Asian countries; international data on income poverty and inequality in Central Asia; as well as pros and cons of targeted social policy and protection vis-à-vis a universal approach to social protection.

“I found the training course very interesting in terms of presentation of materials and comparative analyses of facts and data, especially in the social sphere. I think this training helped us all take a fresh look at recent economic developments in the countries in transition and Central Asia in particular,” said Gozel Mameliyeva, Head of the Department of Macroeconomic Analysis and Forecasting of the ISPED.