Tag Archives: Tajikistan

China builds refinery in Tajikistan

MARCH 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — When Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon headed to his home province of Khatlon to celebrate the Nowruz spring holiday he found time to, possibly at least, take part in an important part of Tajikistan’s modern history.

He joined Fan Xianrong, China’s ambassador in Dushanbe, at the official opening ceremony to build Tajikistan’s first oil refinery.

The facility could process up to 1.2m tonnes of crude annually, mirroring the potential of a similar Chinese-built plant in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.

The Kyrgyz refinery is ready to begin production but has faced persistent protests and inflated compensation claims from locals concerned about the environmental impact. On March 24, Kyrgyzstan’s environmental agency finally ruled the refinery was not in breach of domestic environmental laws.

When they are up and running these refineries may help break the Russian energy grip over Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and produce enough supply to feed domestic demand.

The crude oil for the Kyrgyz refinery could be sourced via a spur from the China-Kazakhstan pipeline, while Beijing’s CNPC is working on upstream oil projects in Tajikistan.

For China, building a refinery and controlling crude oil supplies is an effective way of securing influence over regional governments.

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(News report from Issue No. 177, published on March 26 2014)

Tajikistan’s TALCO denies bankruptcy claim

MARCH 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — TALCO, the Tajik aluminium smelter and the country’s largest single industrial asset, has denied an earlier ministry of finance statement that accused it of being on the brink of bankruptcy, local media reported. TALCO is controversial because of its links to Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon.

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(News report from Issue No. 177, published on March 26 2014)

Tajik president’s relative heads Tax Office

MARCH 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Highlighting nepotism in Tajik officialdom, Ashraf Gulov, the son-in-law of President Emonali Rakhmon, has been made head of the state Tax Committee’s internal audit department, media reported.

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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)

Tension mounts on the Tajik-Afghan border

MARCH 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — With NATO’s mission in Afghanistan winding down, tension is rising on the Tajik-Afghan border. Quoting Afghan officials, media said Tajik border guards shot dead two fishermen they thought were Taliban fighters or smugglers.

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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)

Tajikistan wants Ukrainian oligarch’s assets

MARCH 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ukrainian industrial magnate Dmitri Firtash, one of Ukraine’s richest people, is having a rough time.

Four days after Austrian police arrested Mr Firtash on various criminal charges, Tajikistan’s anti-corruption agency launched an investigation into a 2002 deal involving his Cyprus-based Khairok Holdings Company.

The deal saw Khairok Holdings buy a 75% stake in Tajik Azot, a factory that produces carbamide as a fertiliser.

The timing of the Tajik investigation is suspect. Languishing in an Austrian jail makes it difficult for Mr Firtash to defend his Tajik business.

And the outlook for Mr Firtash’s control of Tajik Azot does not look good. Officials at the anti-corruption agency noted that Zayd Saydov was minister of industry when the deal was signed. Saydov is not a favourite of the authorities. He is a rival to Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and was jailed in December for 26 years for corruption, polygamy and sex with a minor.

At full capacity Tajik Azot, based 117km from Dushanbe, exported international standard Carbamide to countries across the former Soviet Union, employing over 800 people.

Since 2008, production at the plant has plummeted due to high prices of natural gas from Uzbekistan. Nevertheless as Tajikistan seeks to develop its own hydrocarbons sector the facility may assume a strategic role in the national economy once more. A nice asset to grab while you can.

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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)

China wants to build pipeline through Tajikistan

MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — China’s state-run energy company CNPC set up a firm with Tajikistan’s Tajiktransgas to build a fourth branch of a pipeline pumping gas from Turkmenistan to China. China now dominates energy exports from Central Asia. Tajikistan will received a fee for hosting the pipeline.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Siemens eyes energy projects in Tajikistan

MARCH 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Officials from Siemens and the German Energy Agency (DENA) met with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon in Dushanbe to discuss potential cooperation in the sector, giving Tajikistan’s struggling domestic energy sector a potential boost.

Tajikistan relies mainly on hydropower stations to generate much of its power but Mr Rakhmon’s pet project, the Rogun station, lacks investment and has aggravated relations with downstream Uzbekistan, a major cotton-producer.

Every winter, and it gets cold in Tajikistan, villages across the country face rolling blackouts as electricity rationing is introduced.

Last year German-Tajik trade amounted to just under €40.3m, less than a tenth of German-Uzbek trade and dwarfed by German-Kazakh trade which reached over €6.5b.

Perhaps, though, with the visit by Siemens, this is about to change.

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Tajik minister drops Russian surname

MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to distance themselves from Russian culture, or perhaps just seeking to please their leader, Tajikistan’s interior minister and communications chief have ditched the -ov from their names, media reported. President Emomali Rakhmon dropped his -ov in 2007.

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Tajikistan arrests lawyer of opposition figure

MARCH 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Underling Tajikistan’s authoritarian instinct, police arrested the lawyer of jailed opposition leader Zaid Saidov, media reported. Fakhriddin Zokirov, the lawyer who represented Sadiov last year in his corruption case, is accused of forging documents and theft.

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan reopen border

MARCH4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have agreed to reopen border crossings closed since mid-January after a shootout between Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards, media reported. The re-opening of the border marks an important drop in tension between the two countries.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)