Tag Archives: Tajikistan

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.

ENDS

(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.

ENDS

(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.

ENDS

(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.

ENDS

(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.

ENDS

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

Prices to do the Hajj from Tajikistan soar

DUSHANBE, JUNE 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pious Tajiks complain that doing the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, has become prohibitively difficult because of a sharp rise in inflation, a reduction in the amount of remittances flowing into the country from Russia and an increase in surveillance by the security forces.

A Bulletin correspondent spoke to several people in Tajikistan who have cancelled plans to make the pilgrimage.

Abbos, a taxi driver, sucked in a deep breath. He squinted and exhaled with a sigh. In his late 40s, Abbos has been planning to do the Hajj this year but has had to cancel his plans.

“It is my dream to do the Hajj, but I do not have enough money this year,” he said as he left a central Dushanbe mosque. “The Hajj price tag has gone up while I have been earning less this year.”

According to Tajikistan’s Committee on Religious Affairs, the price of going to Mecca — including flights, accommodation and living expenses — is now around 28,649 somoni (roughly $3,500). This is nearly 20% more expensive than last year.

Like the rest of the region, Tajikistan has been dealing with an economic fallout linked to a recession in Russia. All important remittance flows have dropped by around 45% while the value of the somoni currency has fallen and inflation has risen. And there is also the surveillance. The Tajik government has grown increasingly wary of pious Tajiks. Last year it banned the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, imposed various restrictions on people who frequent mosques and set a minimum age requirement of 40 for men who want to go on the Hajj.

So, for some, the route to Mecca lies elsewhere. Isroil, a 35-year-old man has a game plan. “I want to go from Russia as it is cheaper and has no age limits,” he said. “I’m not able to wait five more years because it is becoming more expensive in Tajikistan.”

ENDS

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

Tajikistan completes construction of power line

MAY 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan completed the construction of a power line that will link two Afghan villages to the Tajik grid, bringing electricity to around 3,000 Afghans for the first time. The US Embassy in Dushanbe and the Aga Khan Foundation jointly funded the $1.5m project. The power line will bring electricity from Tajikistan’s Gorno– Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast across the Panj river which marks the boundary with Afghanistan.

ENDS

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

Tajikistan silences opposition

DUSHANBE, JUNE 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik authorities finally snuffed out the country’s only genuine opposition party, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), after a court sentenced its top leaders to life in prison for plotting a coup last year.

It’s been a long-winded and very public end for the IRPT which had once laid claim to be an alternative to President Emomali Rakhmon and the Tajik elite.

Eight months after they were arrested, the Tajik Supreme Court imprisoned Saidumar Khusayni and Makhmadali Khait, two deputy leaders of the IRPT, for life for plotting a coup. Another dozen senior IRPT officials received sentences of between 14 and 28 years, including Khikmatullo Sayfullozoda, the editor of the now banned IRPT newspaper.

Zarafo Rakhmoni, the IRPT lawyer, was the only woman sent to prison. She received a two year jail sentence.

A Dushanbe-based analyst, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Conway Bulletin correspondent in Dushanbe that the verdicts were deliberately harsh and designed to send a strong message to other potential dissenters.

“Even those who are ideologically against the IRPT, were not happy with the verdict, because the verdict was fully politically motivated and lacked transparency,” he said.

“The authorities did not care if society or the international community think the verdict is harsh, inhuman, and falsified. It was a very open move to punish the main opposition figures, as well as to show who is the boss in the county.”

The IRPT’s leader, Mukhiddin Kabiri, fled into exile earlier last year. Several pro-government demonstrations were staged this year outside European embassies to try to pressure them to extradite Mr Kabiri.

And Mr Kabiri had a warning for the Tajik authorities. In an interview with Reuters before the verdict was announced he said the charges were trumped up and that banning the party would create more problems.

“What is happening in the country will play into the hands of radicals and more and more youths, having lost all trust in the government, will join the ranks of extremist groups,” he said.

ENDS

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

Iran plans jet fuel sales to Armenia and Tajikistan

MAY 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — This year, Iran will increase exports of jet fuel to Armenia and Tajikistan, Iranian officials said. Last year, Iran exported jet fuel to Armenia. Although detailed numbers are not public, volumes amounted to a few thousand tonnes. In 2016, Iran added Tajikistan to the list of buyers, a sign of closer commercial relations with Dushanbe. Central Asia has been quick to try to pull Iran into its economic circle since sanctions were eased in February.

ENDS

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

Rakhmon tightens grip over Tajikistan

DUSHANBE, MAY 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon can now rule over Tajikistan for his entire life after people voted in a referendum to scrap limits on presidential terms.

The referendum also lowered the age that a person can run for president to 30 from 35, potentially allowing Mr Rakhmon’s son to run for office in 2020 if he was needed, and also banned political parties linked to a religion. The main opposition party in Tajikistan had been the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan until it was outlawed last year and its leaders chased into exile or arrested.

At its core, the referendum gives Mr Rakhmon almost total control over Tajikistan.

Officially, the Central Elections Committee said that turnout was 92% and that 96.6% of people had voted for the changes.

But while, at least openly, few people in Tajikistan are prepared to express any dissatisfaction with Mr Rakhmon, some were critical of the referendum.

Malika, a 52-year-old teacher, said people had voted for the changes because they think that Mr Rakhmon is a guarantor of peace and stability.

“It’s simple and depressing. People do not want war and accept whatever the government does. We all saw how our people died,” she said referring to a civil war in the mid-1990s. “We just want stability and do not care who runs the country and for how long.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)