Tag Archives: Tajikistan

Putin schedules visit to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

JAN. 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to fly to Dushanbe for a state visit that Russian and Tajik media have hinted may coincide with a formal application from Tajikistan to join the Kremlin-lead Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Mr Putin will also travel to Bishkek on the same trip which Russian media said would take place “in the near future”.

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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Flights to resume between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

FEB. 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Somon Air, Tajikistan’s national airline, has scheduled a first Tajikistan-Uzbekistan flight since 1992 for Feb. 10, media reported. Regular flights are expected to start up between Dushanbe and Tashkent on Feb. 20. These flights are important as they signify a sea- change in relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, who have quarrelled for years, since the death in September of Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov.

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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Tajik officials investigate former Dushanbe mayor for corruption

JAN. 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Anti-corruption officials in Tajikistan opened an investigation into the former mayor of Dushanbe Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloev, RFE/RL reported. He was sacked earlier this month. The sacking and investigation, which focuses on a new housing scheme, of Mr Ubaidulloev may signal the start of a power struggle within the Tajik elite. Mr Ubaidulloev had been considered an arch loyalist. Anti- corruption campaigners have said that Tajikistan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)f

Start of CASA-1000 pushed back to 2020

BISHKEK, FEB. 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A delay in handing out a contract to build two converter stations has pushed back the start date of the CASA-1000 project which aims to send electricity generated by hydropower stations in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Express-Tribune newspaper quoted an unnamed Pakistani official as saying that French engineering company Alstom had asked for more time to put in a bid to build two converter stations.

“Four countries that are part of the project – Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan – have agreed to give relaxation in the timeframe keeping in view the request of Alstom, which is a credible name and a major supplier of converter stations across the world,” the newspaper quoted the official as saying.

“Now, this project is likely to be ready in 2020.”

CASA-1000 had been due to start up either at the end of this year or in 2018. It is backed by the World Bank and is considered a vital economic and strategic link between Central Asia and South Asia, binding the two regions together, providing an export product for Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and electricity for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The two converter stations are vital to the CASA-1000 project. One will be sited in Tajikistan and the other in Pakistan.

The value of the tender has not been released but the names of the companies bidding for it have been. They are the US’ GE, Japan’s Mitsubishi, Germany’s Siemens and Alstom.

For the West the CASA-1000 project also has major significance as the physical implementation of the north-south Silk Road trade route that Hillary Clinton touted in 2011 when she was US Secretary of State.

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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

36 terrorist attacks stopped in 2016, says Tajik interior minister

JAN. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a press conference in Dushanbe, the Eurasianet website reported that Tajik interior minister Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda said that the country’s security forces had stopped 36 terrorist attacks in 2016. No independent analysis of the figures was available.

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(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)f

Tajikistan increases cement exports

JAN. 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan quadrupled its cement production in 2016 to 2m tonnes and opened up export routes to its neighbours, media reported quoting the ministry of industry. Chinese investment has built three new cement-making factories, adding a vital export to Tajikistan’s economy. Previously Tajikistan had only exported to Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan. Now it also exports to Uzbekistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Diplomatic spat brews over rail link between Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

JAN. 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s foreign minister issued a statement complaining about a press release by Tajikistan which said that it wanted to build a railway link to Russia that bypassed Turkmenistan and instead traversed Uzbekistan. The Turkmen statement said that Tajikistan’s press release had been unethical. Uzbek-Tajik relations have improved markedly since the death in September of former Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov. The Turkmen diplomatic note is a reminder the ties between Central Asian countries are often strained and fractured.

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(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Tajikistan’s Somon Air flights to Russia to restart

JAN. 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia agreed to lift restrictions on Tajikistan’s Somon Air flying to the Russian regions after talks in Dushanbe. The routes to Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar, Ufa and Orenburg by Somon Air are a vital part of the transport infrastructure that allows Tajik migrants to work seasonally across Russia and to send vital remittances home. The Somon Air flights had been banned since mid-December after a row between the two countries’ aviation divisions.

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(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Sweden’s Telia accuses Tajikistan of slapping it with bogus tax bill

JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Telia Company, the Swedish telecoms company, accused the Tajik government of posting a bogus tax claim against its Tajikistan-based subsidiary Tcell.

In a statement, the head of Telia’s Eurasia division, Emil Nilsson, said that the tax authorities in Tajikistan had handed Tcell a claim for May 2015 to June 2016 of 155m somoni ($19.6m) — more than the company’s entire revenue for 2015.

“We are very concerned with the situation which we believe is totally unacceptable,” Mr Nilsson said.

Central Asia governments have previously tried to raise revenue by slapping large fines for tax violations on Western companies. And this is exactly what Telia, in its abrupt statement, said was the scenario currently playing out with the Tajik authorities.

“The Tajik operator Tcell has appealed what is considered to be an illegal tax claim,” it said in the statement entitled ‘Telia appeals illegal tax claims in Tajikistan’. “The authorities in Tajikistan are basing their tax claim on revenue that Tcell has never generated, so called ‘un- realised revenue’.”

The Tajik authorities may feel that Tcell is vulnerable. Telia is trying to offload its businesses in Central Asia and the South Caucasus after a corruption scandal in Uzbekistan was uncovered that tarnished Telia’s global image and damaged Central Asia’s reputation for governance.

In September 2016, Telia agreed to sell its 60% stake in Tcell to the Aga Khan for $39m. The Aga Khan already owns 40% of the company.

In its statement, Telia said that it had expected the deal to be signed off by the Tajik authorities by the end of 2016. This has been delayed, though, without clear reason, Telia said.

The Tajik authorities have not commented on either the tax-linked fine or the delay in granting permission for Aga Khan to buy Telia’s stake in Tcell.

Tajikistan’s economy has been hit hard by a recession in Russia, making finding potential buyers for Tcell difficult.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Tajikistan to resume Air-links talks with Russia

JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Talks between Russia and Tajikistan over restarting air-links, vital for Tajikistan’s remittance-dependent economy, will resume on Jan. 26, media reported. Both countries cut air-links in December after a row. Without the vital air-link to Moscow and other major Russian cities, young Tajik men will not be able to travel to Russia, the source of most of the remittance cash.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)