On Thursday, February 11, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov held an expanded joint meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers and the State Security Council of Turkmenistan via digital video communication system, at which personnel issues were considered, appointments and dismissals of a number of sectiral heads were made, as well as drafts of a number of documents were surveyed.

 The head of the state made a number of personnel decisions in the oil and gas complex and outlined the priority areas of work in this area.

 In particular, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov dismissed Myratgeldi Meredov from the post of Vice-Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers for serious shortcomings in his work.

 Appointing Shahim Abdrakhmanov to the post of Vice-Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers and curator of the oil and gas complex, the head of the state dismissed him from the post of rector of the International University of Oil and Gas.

 Then the President appointed Bayrammyrat Atamanov to the post of rector of the International University of Oil and Gas, relieving him of the post of rector of the Turkmen State Construction and Architecture Institute.

 During the meeting, the President of Turkmenistan addressed a number of specific assignments to Vice-Chairman Sh. Abdrakhmanov. In order to improve the operation of the oil and gas complex, the head of the state instructed, first of all, to introduce sector into production advanced technologies developed on the basis of the latest achievements of science and technology, as well as attract foreign investments on mutually beneficial terms.

 The state concern "Turkmennebit" should practice new forms of cooperation with international companies in the field of prospecting, exploration and development of oil and gas fields, attract foreign investments for drilling new wells and producing hard-to-recover and residual oil reserves from old wells.

 It was emphasized that the State Concern "Turkmengas" should expand the geography of the sale of natural gas and gas chemical products, study the logistical possibilities of entering new international markets.  The President also ordered to increase the pace of construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline and complete it on time.

 The head of the state pointed out the need to ensure the stable use of new gas chemical complexes and bring them to their design capacity.  Along with this, it is necessary to intensify the development of projects planned for the near future for the construction of new plants for processing natural gas.

 The new Vice-Chairman was also given the task to provide training for highly qualified workers and young specialists to work in modern production facilities and petrochemical complexes.

 The President ordered to accelerate the pace of exploration, research and drilling activities carried out by the State Corporation "Turkmengeology" in order to increase the country's oil and gas reserves.

 Speaking about the Turkmenbashi complex of oil refineries, the head of the state indicated necessity of studing new methods of managing the production of oil products, having established the rollout of new types of petrochemical products, to expand the routes of their entry to international markets.

It is also demanded to ensure the use of digital technologies in the production process, improve the quality and added value of products.  Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov instructed to accelerate the implementation of the developments of scientific research institutes in production, having mentioned that those departments should master the advanced experience and the latest achievements of world science in this direction.  In order to train highly qualified specialists, it is important to establish cooperation with leading and specialized scientific institutions of other countries.