Tag Archives: Tajikistan

Tajikistan cancels licences for international courier agencies

DUSHANBE, JUNE 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — International courier companies DHL, TNT, UPS and Pony Express are still waiting to be granted operating licences, nearly two weeks after the government suddenly ordered them to stop work.

The authorities told four of the world’s biggest courier companies that they needed to apply for a new licence to continue operations on June 7, but despite consultations and attempts to talk to the authorities none of the companies have yet been able to re-start work.

“We have no idea why this happened so suddenly. We have been working in the country since 1995, and never faced such an issue,” said an employee of UPS in Dushanbe. “We still have not heard anything from the communication services. Most probably the government is trying to popularise Pochtai Tojik [the Tajik Post Office], and remove competition.”

The row is a reminder of the fragile nature of doing business in Tajikistan. At the beginning of the year the government slapped a back-tax fine on mobile operator Tcell just as Sweden’s Telia was trying to sell its 60% stake in the company. Telia accused it of trying to interfere and profit from the sales process.

On the courier companies, the state-run news agency Khovar said that the companies would be able to apply for a new licence if they wanted to return to work.

“The law must be respected. If the above-named companies appeal to the Liaison Service for registration of their license, after a positive decision they will be reopened,” Khovar quoted an unnamed government source as saying.

But an employee of TNT said that getting a new licence wasn’t quite as simple as the Tajik authorities appeared to make out.

“Work in our office has stopped since June 7 and no comments are even made at these days,” she said.

“We applied for the license but there has been no result on that.”

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

UN chief’s visit disappoints human rights activists

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ALMATY, JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — UN Security general Antonio Guterres completed a tour of all five Central Asian states, his first since taking the job six months ago, although human rights activists complained that he had taken too soft a line on a regional crackdown of journalists and dissenters.

Mr Guterres’ main message was that the governments of the region need to remain engaged with international organisations to reach their full potential.

“Kazakhstan has been a symbol of dialogue, a symbol of peace, a symbol of the promotion of contacts between cultures, religions and civilizations; and with its presence in the (UN) Security Council, an extremely important dimension in mediation, in relation to conflict,” he said in Astana.

In Ashgabat, a few days later, after attending a counter-terrorism conference Mr Guterres, a former Portuguese PM and UN high commissioner for refugees, took a tougher line on rights.

“Upholding the rights of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in this region are fundamental to countering the threat that violent extremism poses,” he said.

Even so, with media freedoms and human rights on the retreat in the region, after a series of arrests of journalists and a crackdown on workers’ unions, activists accused Mr Guterres of going soft on the issue in favour of developing nodes of engagement.

Hugh Williamson, director of the Central Asia division at New York- based Human Rights Watch, said Mr Guterres had failed to meet members of local civil rights movements on his tour of the region and that describing Kazakhstan as a “pillar of stability” and Kyrgyzstan as a “pioneer of democracy” was sending out the wrong message.

“Central Asian leaders also pay close attention to what high-level visitors like Guterres focus on, also in public,” he said in a statement.

“Not only did Guterres fail to set clear expectations on human rights improvements across Central Asia, his praise for his largely authoritarian audience risks sending the message that trampling over human rights is fine.”

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

China’s AIIB lends to Tajikistan

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JUNE 17 2017 (The Bulletin) — The Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIIB) approved a $60m loan to Tajikistan to part finance the refurbishment of the Nurek Hydropower station and a $114m loan to part-finance a road bypass around Batumi. The AIIB is a new institutional bank that its critics have said is designed to spread Chinese influence. The United States has declined to become a member.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Uzbek interior minister plans first visit in 19 yrs

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JUNE 16 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan interior minister Major- General Abdusalom Azizov will visit Tajikistan for the first time in 19 years next month, media reported, another sign that Uzbek-Tajik relations are improving under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Major-Gen. Azizov is due to attend a meeting of regional interior ministers in Dushanbe on June 27-29.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Abkhazia says arrests five Tajiks with IS link

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TBILISI, JUNE 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — The authorities in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia said that they had arrested five Tajik men for having links to the extremist IS group.

Men from Central Asia have come under increased scrutiny for links to the extremist IS group after a series of attacks this year blamed on the rise of extremist recruitment in the region.

In its four line message on the arrests, the Abkhazian authorities did not say where the men were arrested or why they were suspected of having links to IS. “After carrying out the necessary actions, the detainees were handed over to the Russian side to carry out operational-investigative actions,” it said.

What appears unusual in this case is the presence of five Tajiks in Abkhazia, not known for attracting migrant workers from Central Asia.

Russia is one of the few countries to recognise Abkhazia as an independent state.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Tajik President’s daughter becomes an author

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JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — Rukhshona Rakhmonova, daughter of Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon, published her new book entitled ‘Basics of Diplomatic Service’. She is the deputy head of the international organisations department within Tajikistan foreign ministry, a position she has held since November 2016. Ms Rakhmonova’s public profile has been increasing. She stood as a parliamentary candidate last year, winning her seat, and has also been head of the presidential administration.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

India and Pakistan join Central Asia-focused SCO

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ALMATY, JUNE 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — India and Pakistan joined the Russia and China led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), pushing the military-economic group beyond Central Asia for the first time.

The SCO, set up in 2001 after Uzbekistan joined what had been called the Shanghai Five, now covers 3.1b people — nearly half the world’s population.

For Central Asia, the geographic focus of the SCO, the ascension of India and Pakistan confirms it as a fulcrum of world diplomacy and also pulls South Asia tighter into its economic sphere.

After its annual 2-day summit meeting in Astana, the SCO said: “The heads of state highlighted the historical significance of the SCO’s enlargement. They believe that granting full SCO membership to India and Pakistan at the current meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council will facilitate the further development and enhance the potential of the SCO.”

The success of the SCO has crept up on Western governments. It has largely been built on China’s drive into Central Asia.

Russia, through its Soviet legacy, has more access points into Central Asia than China and has largely used the SCO as a meeting place and for developing military ties. China, though, has used the SCO to dispense everything from cheap credit to infrastructure deals and military know- how and sees it as a vital cog in its ‘One Belt. One Road’ strategy focused on developing trade corridors to Europe.

Sheng Shiliang, a researcher at the Xinhua Center for World Affairs Studies, told Chinese media that SCO expansion was important to China.

“The SCO has never been just a security group from the beginning. The Belt and Road Initiative offers a timely and convenient framework for the SCO members to facilitate connectivity and ultimately, achieve free flows of goods, capital, service and technology,” he said.

For India and Pakistan, joining the SCO will increase their presence in Central Asia. Over the past five years, India has been trying to catch up with China’s progress in the region. It wants to develop markets and buy up energy projects.

Pakistan has developed links mainly through the TAPI gas pipeline, which will run from Turkmenistan and also through the CASA-1000 electricity scheme which will send power generated by hydropower stations in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The only country in Central Asia that is not a member of the SCO is Turkmenistan, which has traditionally taken a more isolationist neutral stance to international organisations.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

UN Sec-Gen visits

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JUNE 7 2017 (The Bulletin) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres started a tour of Central Asia by flying into Kazakhstan. He was due to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organsiation (SCO) in Astana before flying to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. This is the first visit by a UN Secretary General to Central Asia since 2015.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Russia to reinforce military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

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JUNE 7 2017 (The Bulletin) — Russia plan to reinforce its military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in response to the move north of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said during a visit to Kazakhstan for a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Earlier this year, the Taliban moved to within a few miles of the Amu Darya river that acts as the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, its furthest north. Russia keeps one of its largest overseas military bases in Tajikistan. The Kyrgyzstan base, at Kant near Bishkek, is far smaller. It is mainly used as an air base.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Tajikistan boosts trade with Afghanistan

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JUNE 2 2017 (The Bulletin) — Trade between Tajikistan and Afghanistan has increased considerably over the past few years, Tajik transport minister Khudoyorzoda Khudoyor said on a visit to Kabul. This is important for Western strategists who have tried to promote trade between Central Asia and Afghanistan and Pakistan as way to impose a lasting peace in the region. Specifically, Mr Khudoyor said that Tajikistan had exported $74m of goods to Afghanistan in the first four months of the year, including $11m worth of cement.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)