Turkmenistan sits on the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves. Almost all of it goes to China. The country has no foreign debt– because it barely borrows and barely issues visas.
For Hong Kong businesses, Turkmenistan is a locked door. It is an absolute dictatorship ruled by one family with no political competition or free press.
Ancient Merv was once a Silk Road crossroads. Genghis Khan razed it in 1221. Today, it is a Unesco site of crumbling mud-brick fortresses.
Ashgabat holds a Guinness record for the highest density of white marble buildings– golden domes, a 14-meter gold statue of the president that rotates to face the sun. The streets are eerily clean and empty.
Locals receive free electricity, gas, water, and salt. The price is political silence. Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkmenistan below North Korea.
Yet the Turkmen people are famously hospitable. Their handwoven carpets are Unesco treasures. The Akhal-Teke horse, with its metallic golden sheen, is a national obsession.
For Hong Kong travelers: harder to enter than North Korea. For investors: a locked door.
Read more:
New Silk Road 2.0: HK to Central Asia
Kazakhstan: the business anchor – ‘Financial hub of the Caspian’
Uzbekistan: the soul of the Silk Road – awakening giant
Kyrgyzstan: the most democratic – Switzerland of Central Asia
Tajikistan: the roof of the world – poorest of the Soviet heirs, richest in mountains and resilience
