Starting a business in Turkmenistan: foreigner's guide (2026)

There are no legal limits on foreign ownership or control of companies, and wholly foreign-owned enterprises are recognized in law. In practice the government has only permitted significant foreign ownership in parts of the energy sector, and substantial investment requires high-level political approval.

Under the Law on Foreign Investments, a foreign investor is generally treated as an entity holding at least a 20 percent stake in a company's assets; the law also guarantees foreign investments against nationalization or requisition except by court decision.

Foreign companies without an approved government contract must pass a lengthy review and approval by the Interdepartmental Commission for the Protection of the Economy from Risks before registration, on the recommendation of the Agency for Protection against Economic Risks under the Ministry of Finance and Economy.

Typical steps: secure an appropriately zoned legal address; prepare constitutive documents (charter, founding agreement, business plan) and founder IDs; deposit minimum capital into a temporary bank account; submit the file to the competent ministry/commission; obtain a Tax Identification Number; register for statistics and with the Chamber of Commerce; and produce an official company seal validated by police.

Statutory minimum charter capital for a limited-liability business company is 100 times the base calculation value (about TMT 5,000), and for a joint-stock company 200 times (about TMT 10,000); at least half must be paid before filing with the balance within one year. In practice authorities expect far larger contributions to treat a project as serious.

Although nominal document processing is cited at around 4-6 weeks, in practice registration commonly takes several months (about six months) and often depends on personal connections; new projects involving foreign investors have been extremely rare, with no significant new ones reported since around 2015.