Turkmenistan aims to share its wealth with the "Turkic family," the chairman of the country's upper chamber of parliament said Wednesday.
"As Turkmenistan, our aim is to share our hydrocarbon wealth with the big Turkic family. To bring it to the heart of every Turkic family," Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said during the groundbreaking ceremony of three new health centers in the country's capital Ashgabat, also attended by Çalık Holding chairman Ahmet Çalık.
Berdimuhamedov said that Türkiye was the first country to recognize Turkmenistan when it declared its independence and that it was the first country to recognize Ashgabat's neutrality after it was approved at the U.N.
Turkmenistan was officially recognized as a neutral state by the U.N. after the body's General Assembly adopted a resolution on the "Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan" in 1995.
During the ceremony, Berdimuhamedov further said that hospital investments have a priority in the health policy of Turkmenistan, saying: "The greatest value of our society and state is human health. A healthy society is the foundation of a healthy state. We continue our investments."
"We will build oncology hospitals, virology centers and medical vocational schools in other provinces in the near future," Berdimuhamedov also said, while thanking Çalık for his company's operations in Turkmenistan and for their work in fields such as health, energy, textile and construction.
For his part, Çalık said large-scale investments have been made in the field of health as well as in all sectors of the national economy in Turkmenistan in recent years, which have led to "good results" in "the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases, in the provision of quality medical services, and in the implementation of advanced methods and innovative applications."
"These enormous works, which completely transformed Turkmenistan's health and pharmaceutical industry system, significantly changed the health status of the population and increased average life expectancy," Çalık said.
Çalık also said that the construction of the new health centers will be an important proof of these developments, noting that the oncology clinic center will have a capacity of 500 beds, while the pediatric health and dental center will be equipped with 160 beds.
"We are deeply pleased to be a contractor in Turkmenistan and to contribute to the development of the health sector," he added.
