German GTZ Signs MoU with Turkmenistan for Law Reforms

[Please note: There are some factual errors in this story. Please see the comments of Dr. Rolf Knieper below for clarification. We apologize for the confusion caused by our reporting. Ed.] 

nCa Report

Ashgabat, 6 February 2008 (nCa) --- GTZ, the German agency for technical cooperation, has signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with the institute of democracy and human rights of Turkmenistan.

Under the document signed last week, GTZ ((Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit mbH) will provide assistance to Turkmenistan in the framework of its programme for law reforms in Central Asia.

The MoU will pave way for creating the appropriate legislative base to promote democracy and market economy. New laws aimed at satisfactory mechanisms for arbitrage, investor friendly environment, and removal of bureaucratic hurdles can be expected as a result of GTZ cooperation with Turkmenistan.

Professor Rolf Knieper of Bremen University, who was present during the signing ceremony, heads the GTZ project office ‘Law Reforms in Transition States.’ The project office is based in Bremen University.

The GTZ law project for transition countries is wide in scope. Some of the areas covered by the project are:

• civil and economic legislation
• court proceedings and court organisation legislation
• public legislation, esp. administrative law
• professional training for legal staff
• assistance in the publication of commentaries
• PR of the reformed law
• legal database

GTZ maintains LexInfoSys, a free database of more than 7500 legal acts of partner countries including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Because limitations of project capacities the database has not been updated since August 2004.

The entire database can be accessed at through this URL: http://www.cis-legal-reform.org/database-lexinfosys/index.html

GTZ Cooperation with Turkmenistan

GTZ is engaged in a number of areas with Turkmenistan for the last 12 years.

One of the early programs, started in 1997, is focused on helping Turkmen scientists to deliver consultancy services related to combating desertification and to support the affected population in developing and applying appropriate solutions. The idea is to preserve the scientific potential of Turkmenistan and qualify the local scientists in project management. Besides, the local population is encouraged to find solutions on self-help basis. The project partner from Turkmen side is the National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna in Ashgabat.