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A U.S. ambassador describes Turkmenistan's licorice and machine parts industries.
FROM: ASHGABAT, TURKMENISTAN
TO: STATE DEPARTMENT
DATE: FEBRUARY 26, 2010
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
SEE FULL CABLE
¶10. Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan's second largest
city, continues its role as a transport hub and industrial
center, despite diminished regional commerce in the
post-Soviet era. A large complex that processes
locally-harvested licorice root continues to prosper due to
the availability of inputs and a healthy export market. A
machine parts factory has faced greater challenges, having
been forced to find a new product line and relying solely on
the domestic market. Unlike the licorice complex, which
pre-dates the Russian Revolution, the machine parts factory
was a Soviet creation that lacks an obvious market in
Turkmenistan's current economy. Thanks to government
subsidies, however, it does not appear that even a
struggling, Soviet era enterprise is threatened with closure.
Given its success at maintaining its production equipment,
the factory could see better days if it found the right
foreign partner interested in a low-cost metal parts.
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