The Council of Elders of Turkmenistan convenes on May 14. It will be held in Dashoguz province of Turkmenistan. The council will hear the report of the President of Turkmenistan on the situation in the country, on the most important issues of domestic and foreign policies. Elders will also discuss issues of radical modernization of agriculture of Turkmenistan and other priorities.

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov met with Director General of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Jacques Diouf.

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received the Marathon Oil Corporation top managers at the Plaza Hotel – the residence of the Turkmen leader in New York.

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov met with President of China Hu Jintao in New York where the 64th session of the UN General Assembly is due to start today. The meeting was also attended by the delegations of both countries.

During the meeting the Turkmen leader informed the head of China that the construction of the Turkmenistan - China gas pipeline is carried out according to the schedule, and that it will be completed in the required time, the State Information Agency of Turkmenistan (TDH) said. He invited President Hu to attend the pipeline opening ceremony.

Turkmen national art was worthy represented at the 7th International Music Festival Sharq Taronalari ("Melodies of the East") in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. A popular performer of the Turkmen national songs, Honoured Artist of Turkmenistan Lyale Begnazarova won the Grand Prix of the prestige international art contest. Turkmen musicians Maksat Begnazarov and Osman Gujumov took part in the festival too. People’s Artists of Turkmenistan, Associate Professor of the Department of Art of Bagshi of the Turkmen National Conservatoire Oraznepes Dovletnazarov had been invited as an honorary guest and member of the jury of the contest to Samarkand.

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of the Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chavez have top level talks in Ashgabat

The Turkmen leader also said that he was happy to welcome the leader of Kazakhstan as an honorary guest to the ceremony that would take place upon finishing the Silk Road-200 Rally that would cross the territories of three countries and become a symbol of unshakable friendship among the peoples of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov informed that this ceremony would take place in Balkan Velayat in the first half of September.

During the regular, third meeting the deputies of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan debated a number of the important draft laws and legislative acts drafted in the framework of the complex programme of further updating the national legislation in compliance with the priorities of the current national policy. The documents aimed at regulating further development of the country in the strategic fields such as education, science, entrepreneurship, ecology and improvement of the judicial system and activity of prosecutor’s offices were put on the agenda. For the importance of the draft laws the high-ranking officials of the relevant ministries and departments, law enforcement officers, members of the public organisations and journalists were invited to the meeting.