Ashgabat is currently hosting the General Assembly session of the Asian-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), which has presented President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov with an award for the development of mass media in the region.
On 4 October the President met with the ABU Secretary General Dr. Javad Mottaghi, President of Asian Pacific Broadcasting Union and Director General of the Indian state channel Supriya Sahu,and ABU Vice President and President of Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) Riochi Ryoichi Ueda.
The state information agency TDH reports that “in the course of the meeting the head of the state emphasized that Turkmenistan is undertaking consistent steps to integrate into global media space.
Measures are being implemented to improve mass media performance and upgrade the infrastructure by introducing state-of-the-art technologies”.
According to the news outlet, “upon completion of the meeting with the ABU management, in a festive atmosphere the President, in presence of the Mejlis Chairperson, government officials, high-raking officials of military and law enforcement agencies was awarded the ABU certificate, a merit award and a commemorative sign for outstanding contribution to mass media development in the region”.
TDH did not specify though what the award was presented for. “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” contacted the ABU public affairs office to clarify what contribution President Berdymukhammedov made to the development of mass media in the region but no response has been received so far.
It should be highlighted that there is no single independent media outlet in Turkmenistan and the quality of television programming is criticized personally by the President.