Turkmen president declares war on computer illiteracy

ASHGABAD, January 11 (Itar-Tass) - Turkmen President Gurbanguly
Berdymukhamedov has declared a war on computer illiteracy among the
country's leaders.
"It's necessary to organize a paid computer class for our leaders,"
Berdymukhamedov told a government meeting on Monday.
"Leaders who will fail to pass a computer literacy exam will have to
change their job. The requirement is certainly tough but without it it's
going to be difficult to run the economy and achieve high results in the
country's development," the Turkmen president said.
He suggested that a computer literacy course be introduced in all
schools and institutions of high learning, including the Academy of State
Service. All students will have to take a state exam in the end of the
course.
The Turkmen president ordered the government to study the possibility
of providing all first graders with free personal computers alongside with
school textbooks.
President Berdymukhamedov also voiced his plans to create an
e-government.
"Every minister, his deputies, administration heads and their deputies
as well as the heads of enterprises and organizations, the editors of
newspapers and magazines should be good at computers and should carry them
to conferences and meetings," the president emphasized.
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov believes that an e-government will reduce
paper work, speed up the passage of information, cut the time required for
decision-making and help getting rid of unnecessary red tape.
Speaking about the country's economic development, the Turkmen
president said that the national GDP accounted for 9.2 percent last year
and that the inflation rate had dropped to 0.1 percent.
"The policy of diversification of economy and energy supplies has
produced a positive impact on the economy in general and has increased the
number of investments," Berdymukhamedov explained.
This year, he intends to go ahead with reforms in the management of
state finances, draft new budget legislation and bring the system of
accounting in line with international standards. The president ordered the
Turkmen parliament to draft bills on privatisation and creation of various
stock exchanges and securities whose absence produces a negative impact on
economic development.
In the meantime, Turkmenistan has almost completed the diversification of its gas exports.
"The launches of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China and
Turkmenistan-Iran gas pipelines have laid down the foundation for another major international project - the construction of the
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
Today, we are also ready to supply gas to European countries," Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov told a government meeting on Monday.
He called on the heads of fuel and energy companies to solve this task in 2011.
"It's necessary to build plants for the production of liquefied gas and gas processing plants. We don't need pipelines to transport liquefied gas.
That makes it easier for us to export gas in various directions," President Berdymukhamedov said at the meeting that reviewed the results of 2010 and discussed plans for 2011.
The Turkmen president stressed the need to process gas condensate for making polypropylene and other products.
"All these measures will
contribute to increasing our exports and will ensure stable currency
revenues for the state treasury," Berdymukhamedov said.
He also demanded that a program of developing Turkmenistan's gas and oil industry for a period up to 2030 be adjusted as soon as possible and submitted for approval.