Tag Archives: Tajikistan

Sangtuda-1 rows with Tajikistan’s Barqi Tojik

JUNE 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The administration of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant said it will not pay taxes until Tajikistan’s power distribution company Barqi Tojik pays for its electricity supplies. The hydropower company, co-owned by Russian and Tajik state-companies, said Barqi Tojik has piled up a debt of 628m somoni ($79m). Barqi Tojik is one of the most indebted state-owned companies in Tajikistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Tajikistan responds to EU

DUSHANBE, JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A group of Tajik academics launched a staunch defence of the government’s crackdown on the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) after the European Parliament passed a resolution criticising it.

The authorities in Tajikistan outlawed the IRPT last year. Last month a court handed the IRPT leaders several years in prison for attempting to organise a coup. In response to the prison sentences, the European Parliament said it was concerned about freedom of expression in Tajikistan.

Tajikistan’s foreign ministry responded by criticising Europe for double standards over terrorism and a group of academics released a statement blaming the IRPT for a civil war in the 1990s and saying that it controlled the European Parliament.

A Dushanbe-based analyst, though, said that like student protests which sprung up this year to promote the government, the authorities were influencing the academics.

“These letters of support are aimed at pleasing the authorities and promoting careers,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Tajikistan tightens advertising ban

JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik authorities have said they would fine shop-owners in Dushanbe for violating a law that bans outdoor advertising, theAsia Plus news agency reported. The authorities claim that the law, in force since 2007, also applies to storefronts, not just billboards. Shop-owners will have to take down their signs or risk a fine up to 20,000 somoni ($2,500).

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Russia strengthens base in Tajikistan

JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Russian army ramped up its hardware at its base in Tajikistan by delivering 100 armed personnel carriers and tanks. Russian officials did not say why they were upgrading their military kit in Tajikistan. Russia has previously warned of the threat by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The military base in Tajikistan is Russia’s largest foreign military facility.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

EU and UN condemn Tajikistan on opposition crackdown

JUNE 3/7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Union and the United Nations both condemned the harsh sentencing of former top members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan last week. “The court proceedings were not transparent and violated the rights of the accused to a fair trial,” the EU statement said. “The harsh sentencing reflects the steady increase of restrictions on freedom of expression in Tajikistan,” said David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Tajik-Chinese JV produces first gold at mine in Tajikistan

DUSHANBE, JUNE 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Chinese-owned mine has produced its first gold in Tajikistan, highlighting the growing influence and importance of China in the Tajik precious metals sector.

Another Chinese gold mining company, though, was accused of trying to dodge paying an environmental fine, a reminder of the complexity of business in the region.

Tajikistan’s government said Pokrud LLC, a Chinese-Tajik JV involving the China National Metallurgical and Mining Company mine, had held a licence to develop a mine 20km east of Dushanbe since 2003. Only far more recently, though, has work started on exploiting it.

Official news outlets quoted the visiting President Emomali Rakhmon as saying that investments to date in the mine totalled $256m. The Pokrud mine will produce around 1.3 tonnes of gold per year, giving the gold sector in Tajikistan a decent boost. It currently produces around 4 tonnes of gold per year.

At the other end of the spectrum, Chinese miner Zijin Mining, which operates the Zarafshan mine in the north of the country, was at the centre of a corruption probe this week.

Tajikistan’s anti-corruption agency, headed by Mr Rakhmon’s son, Rustam Emomali, said the company had finally paid off a 13.4m somoni ($1.7m) penalty for environmental damage owed since last year. He said that two of Zijin Mining’s managers had tried to dodge the payment by allegedly forging official documents. The two managers are now under investigation.

Zijin Mining bought a 75% stake in Zarafshan from Britain’s Common- wealth and British Minerals in 2007. Zarafshan is Tajikistan’s biggest gold mine.

The majority of the largest gold mining projects in Tajikistan are part- owned by Chinese companies. Tajikistan is looking to gold production, with Chinese help, and electricity exports to boost its GDP.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Business comment: Banking mergers

JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A wave of mergers, acquisitions and privatisations has hit Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

At The Bulletin, we’ve extensively covered the Kazkommertsbank buyout over the past two years. But elsewhere, from Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan, the banking sector is in a restructuring phase.

A renovation of the financial sector had become crucial after an extended economic downturn hit the money markets, from currency exchange rates to loan sustainability. What’s more, low oil prices, besides depressing budget capacity and economic growth, have hindered investment and project financing.

From small local lenders to country-wide behemoths, banks across Central Asia and the South Caucasus have equally suffered, albeit for different reasons.

And since the beginning of 2016, small quakes have shaken the sector.

In Azerbaijan, immediately after the sharp depreciation of the manat, middle and small-sized banks were unable to maintain the newly set capital ratio requirements, triggering failures and mergers.

This week a rather obscure deal involving an Uzbek bank and a German plastics manufacturer marked the beginning of the new privatisation era in Uzbekistan.

And of course, across the border in Tajikistan, we are now three weeks into the care-taking administration of the country’s second-largest bank.

This is both a stress test and an opportunity. 25-year-old countries cannot afford to have a banking crisis every decade. Dependent as they are on commodity prices and regional trade, they need to seize this occasion to build more reliable and stable foundations for their finance sector.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Saudi Arabia builds influence in Tajikistan

DUSHANBE, JUNE 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Saudi Arabia has agreed to build a new parliament building in the centre of Dushanbe, seen as an effort to curry influence.

Plans for the new parliament involve tearing down several Soviet- era buildings such as the current parliament building, the city administration, the ministry of agriculture and apartment blocks. The Iranian embassy will also be demolished to create space for the Saudi-financed parliament. Iran and Saudi Arabia are major regional rivals.

Saudi Arabia agreed in principle to fund the new parliament building when Tajik President Emomali

Rakhmon visited Riyadh in January. Media has now reported that this was confirmed in May when Abdullah Ibn- Muhammad al Ash-Sheikh, the speaker of Saudi Parliament, visited Dushanbe.

Mr Rakhmon is keen on constructing extravagant buildings in Dushanbe including a flagpole that had at one time been the world’s tallest and Central Asia’s largest library. The largest theatre and biggest mosque in Central Asia are also planned. But with the economy stalling, remittances from Russia drying up and the financial system creaking, ordinary Tajiks are angry.

Romiz, a 34-year-old construction worker, told the Conway Bulletin that the authorities should be building something more useful.

“For instance, hospitals, schools, children’s centres, sport complexes, elderly houses. Is it necessary to build a palace for these idlers?” he said.

A Dushanbe-based analyst, who asked to remain anonymous, said that constructing a new building is part of Saudi Arabia’s attempt to play a more important role in the region.

“Tajikistan itself is not interesting for Saudi. They do all this only as part of their regional game against Iran,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

First Tajik president dies

JUNE 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Khakhar Makhkamov, who served as the first president of Tajikistan just prior to its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, died in Dushanbe aged 84. Mikhail Gorbachev, the then leader of the Soviet Union, created the post of Tajik president in 1990 and appointed Makhkamov to the role. He was ousted in August 1991 for supporting the coup by Boris Yeltsin that precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Tajik President’s daughter rises

MAY 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ozoda Rakhmon, daughter of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, was elected senator after a local by-election for Tajikistan’s 33-seat upper house of parliament. Ms Rakhmon won all votes cast by the 201 Dushanbe administrators that were eligible to vote, according to official media. In January, Ms Rakhmon, 38, was named head of the Presidential Administration. It is unclear whether Ms Rakhmon will have to relinquish her previous post to serve as senator.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)