DUBAI: Tajikistan and the UAE are planning to create a joint investment fund to boost economic ties between the two countries, according to a top official from the country. The fund will facilitate investments in various sectors of Tajikistan economy including infrastructure, energy, tourism and agriculture, among other things, Qahhorzoda Fayziddin Sattor, Chairman of the State Committee for Investments and State Property Management of the Republic of Tajikistan, told Gulf News in an interview.
Sattor recently visited the UAE with a high-level business delegation to hold discussions with the UAE based funds and businessmen to look for investment opportunities and increase cooperation between the two sides.
“During the meetings we discussed issues of cooperation between our countries on trade, economy and investment, finance, banking, security, transport and infrastructure, humanitarian, energy, agriculture, education, tourism, culture, and also agreed on the creation of the Joint Investment Fund and the Tajik-US Business Council,” he said, without providing further details about the structure of the fund or when it would be created.
In the last 10 years, the UAE invested $188.9 million in Tajikistan, of which $72.7 million are direct investments and $116.2 million are loans received by companies and organisations. The bilateral trade is also on the rise with $35.2 million in trade recorded until October this year.
“One of the goals of the government of Tajikistan at the moment is investment diversification. In this regard we are open for any new investment partnership on equal level. China is investing worldwide, including our country, and one of the powerful investment initiatives is the framework of the Belt and Road initiative.”
From 2007 to 2017, the volume of investments by China in Tajikistan amounted to $2.2 billion, of which $1.2 billion is direct investment and $984.2 million in loans received by companies and enterprises, Sattor said.
China is investing in various sectors of Tajik economy including transport, energy and infrastructure. At present, two infrastructure investment projects exceeding $400 million in value are being taken up in the country with Chinese support.
Further commenting on Tajikistan’s economy, he said the average economic growth rate reached 7 per cent in the country due to implementation of various policies and programmes by the government.
“The government has adopted the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period up to 2030, which includes the strategic goals of the country, like energy independence and the efficient use of electricity, food security and people’s access to quality food, as well as providing employment,” he said.
On the government’s plans to improve business environment, he said: “The current legislation provides for more than 70 types of guarantees and tax and customs benefits. In particular, the protection of private property as well as special privileges for strategic sectors of the economy, such as the construction of hydroelectric power stations, processing of aluminium, cotton fibre, tourism and agriculture, which created a unified system for domestic and foreign investors.”
