of those entering secondary school in 2011/12 were girls. Thousands of students had also travelled abroad to continue their studies.

On employment, the amount of employed women was increasing, with women prevailing among informal sector employment. Work was being done to improve the employment and training situation in general.

A high level of disease prevention and a significant reduction in the burden of diseases had been seen in the health sector and the updates of the higher education sector had increased the number of highly specialised health specialists. Measures had been implemented to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and the birth rate, and the number of women giving birth in health facilities had increased.

Women in the rural areas were given equal access with men to special agricultural loans and anestablishment of privileges to exempt farmers from taxes had encouraged women to start businesses and improved their quality of life, with 26.0 per cent of women seen involved in entrepreneurship. Government programmes were also in place for infrastructure, industrial and social development to 2020 and hoped to provide living standards as close to those in urban areas as possible for those in rural territory.

The Family Code adopted last year established the right to marry and stated a situation of equal rights in relation to both joining and dissolving the union. Religious marriage did not have any legal significance. The minimum age of marriage was 18 years old.

The measures described were the true confirmation that Turkmenistan was on its road to socio-economic reforms and placed special emphasis on the