American companies in the Turkmen market

29 June 2015

In the first years of independence, Turkmenistan had encountered problems in the national economy. Decades long relationships, which had been built between farmers and industrialists, were lost and torn. There were specialists and desire, but there was no equipment and respective foundation for effective work of rural workers. Special machinery was required for cotton-growing. Thus, Turkmen government’s decision to purchase new combine harvesters fell on several US manufacturers of such machinery. Previous producers of the machines suspended their manufacture long ago. There was a risk to make a mistake, as the climatic conditions of the region where harvesting combines were manufactured and conditions in Turkmenistan are not comparable. But experts’ fear proved groundless. So national cotton growers owned first cotton harvesters from well-known US companies as "John Deere" and "Case".

As Turkmen specialists had learned from previous disappointing deals, one of their main conditions for foreign companies entering Turkmen market was to open the appropriate service centers to maintain these technologies. And so it happened. Nowadays it is difficult for farmers to imagine their work without the American agricultural machinery. This support and assistance proved to be more than ever to the purpose and mutually beneficial.

Today, farmers have at their disposal different types of agricultural machinery from the world-known American companies "John Deere" – 1460 units, “Case” - 1570 units, as well as "Caterpillar" – 570 units.
Currently, 32 different US companies including representative offices, branches and joint ventures registered in Turkmenistan. Among them CAD Control Systems, Inc; Glitterbest Trading Ltd; Caddell Construction Co. Ltd.; GE International, Inc.; Western Atlas International Inc.; Bertling Logistics LLC; Gateway Ventures International Congress; Caspian Catering Services Management LLC; Itera International LLC Energie; Turkmenistan Coco-Cola Bottlers; Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP; Unitech INC Micro; Argus Limited; VNG Group LLC; Miller Lents Ltd Andes; International Automotive Resources LLC; Evans Computer Network Service; Murphy Turkmenistan; Sky LTD; Ardrey Group LLC; Westport Trading Europe Limited; Environmental Solutions International LLC; Worldwide Oilfield Machine Inc.; Microsoft Corporation Turkmen; Velgraf-Turkmenistan Ltd.; Transworld CFS Group Inc.; Belam Inc; Agile Equity LLC; Russland Capital Group Inc.; Parker Drilling Company International LLC; and Turkmen Atlantic.

It should be noted that the equipment of American manufacturers are also widely used in the national industry, mainly in the oil-refining and energy sectors. In this area, state agencies and local companies actively cooperate with such American giants as "Europa Westport Trading Limited" and "General Electric".

A new high-quality bitumen manufacturing plant, production of which is currently used in the construction and repair of roads, were built and put into operation by "Westport Europa Trading Limited" at the Turkmenbashi and Seydi oil refineries.

In recent years, Turkmenistan built several gas turbine power plants with the equipment and with the help of "General Electric". A few days ago in Mary province there was a presentation of the project for the construction of a combined steam-gas power plant with the capacity 1.5 times more efficient than non-hybrid (gas turbine) power plants.

In addition to the active mutual cooperation in the field of agriculture and industry, US companies have proven themselves in the transport and logistics sectors. The famous American companies "Boeing", "Sikorsky" first appeared in Turkmenistan among CIS countries. Today, the country’s fleet is almost entirely completed with aircrafts of these well-known companies.
Speaking about the success of the Turkmen-American cooperation in the economic sphere, it is worth mentioning that, thanks to the American partners this year Turkmenistan became a country, which discovered the space.

The first Turkmen satellite "TurkmenSat-1" was launched from Canaveral (Florida, USA) by the American “Space” with the carrier "Falkon 9" Х.

Ekaterina Maximova