TAJIKISTAN COMMERCIAL NEWS UPDATE

Date: March 2007

Author: Jamshed Rahmonberdiev, BISNIS Representative, Dushanbe, Tajikistan,

INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 2006. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED FOR USE OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.

NOTE: THIS COMMERCIAL UPDATE IS DRAWN FROM THE PRESS AND OTHER OPEN SOURCES AND SHOULD NOT BE INTERPRETED AS OFFICIAL U.S. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION

Dushanbe water utility company proposes to raise rates for water

March 29, 2007 – according to Asia Plus news agency, Dushanbe-based state owned water utility company Dushanbe Vodo Kanal (DVK), has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade suggesting to increase the rate of water from current 0.025 Somoni to 0.85 Somoni per cubic meter. The proposal is based on the research of DVK to raise the rate to a cost recovery level. According to the World Bank web-site

Exchange rate: $1=3.44 Somoni

Tajikistan seeks Azerbaijan’s investments in its oil and gas sector

March 17, 2007 – according to Asia Plus news agency, the Tajik Ministry of Energy and Industry is ready to propose four investment proposals for its oil and gas sector to investors from Azerbaijan. The proposals are aimed at development and processing of oil fields in southern Tajikistan. According to local experts Tajikistan has some 0.863 trillion cubic meters of natural gas; however deposits occur at 6.5 to 8.0 km in depth.

A $20m Vefa Business Center sponsored by the Turkey’s Kaynak Corporation opened in Dushanbe

March 21, 2007 – according to Asia Plus news agency the Vefa Business Center was officially opened. The opening ceremony was attended by Tajik Prime Minister and President of Ozgun Insaat, a Turkish construction and trading company. The business center combines office space, shopping centers and few luxury apartments.

A $1.8m new dairy plant built in northern Tajikistan

March 28, 2007 – according to Asia Plus, the project was sponsored by Komron Agro Holding and the dairy plant was installed in the town of Ghafurov, Bobojon Ghafurov district of the Sughd Region. The plant will daily process some 10 tons of milk to produce milk, butter, cottage cheese, sour cream and ice cream.

The Tajikistan’s Ministry of Health and IFC partner to improve the sanitary supervision procedures

February 27, 2007 - A joint Action Plan was signed today between the National Center of State Sanitary and Epidemiologic Supervision of the Ministry of Health of the RT (SES) and the IFC Tajikistan Business Enabling Environment/SME Policy Project to promote cooperation between the two organizations. SES and IFC will work together to improve sanitary supervision procedures in Tajikistan in accordance with the Inspections Law adopted by the Tajik Government in summer 2006.

See full text of press release at: http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/tajikistansme.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/TJ_SME_Press-release_SES_Action_Plan/$FILE/SES_Action_plan_signing.pdf

Kazakh Telecom opens representative office in Dushanbe

March 27, 2007 – according to Asia Plus, Kazakhstan’s Kazakh Telecom opened its office in Dushanbe to sponsor investment in fixed-line telecommunications in Tajikistan. The project includes installation of fiber-optic network to link Tajikistan with Kazakhstan through Kyrgyzstan. According to the head of representative office Mr. Makhsut Karzhubayev, Kazakh Telecom intends to enter the markets in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India through Tajikistan.

Re-branding of Megafon’s subsidiary in Tajikistan faces an unpleasant precedent

March 9, 2007 (C.News) A rather unpleasant precedent for Russian mobile companies took place in Tajikistan recently. Megafon’s plans to re-brand its local daughter company met objections from the Tajik Tochiktelecom operator, the company’s minority shareholder.

Full text is available at:

http://eng.cnews.ru/news/top/indexEn.shtml?2007/03/09/239393

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