DUSHANBE, September 20, 2013, Asia-Plus – Tajikistan and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) are expected to set up a joint expert group in the near future for developing agricultural projects.
An official source at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) says this issue was discussed here yesterday at a meeting of Tajik Minister of Agriculture Qosim Qosimov with Mr. Demba Ba, Director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department, IsDB.
In the course of the talks, the sides discussed ways to enhance Tajikistan’s agrarian sector and exchanged views on priorities of bilateral cooperation.
The following areas were outlined as priorities on cooperation: diversification of agriculture; creation of a dealer service network for purchasing agricultural machines and equipment and carrying out after-sales service; and improvement of a value chain for agricultural crops.
Mr. Demba Ba heading the IsDB delegation arrived in Dushanbe on September 18 to discuss issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of cooperation with Tajikistan. The delegation has already held talks with senior representatives of the State Committee on Investments and State-owned Property Management of Tajikistan (GosKomInvest). During this week, they are scheduled to hold meetings with top managers of a number of other ministries and organizations of Tajikistan.
The Islamic Development Bank is a multilateral development financing institution located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It was founded by the first conference of Finance Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC, now the Organization of Islamic Cooperation), convened December 18, 1973. The bank officially began its activities on October 20, 1975.
The present membership of the Bank consists of 56 countries. The basic condition for membership is that the prospective member country should be a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), pay its contribution to the capital of the Bank and be willing to accept such terms and conditions as may be decided upon by the IsDB Board of Governors.
Tajikistan joined the Islamic Development Bank in December 1996. The active portfolio of the ISDB in Tajikistan currently consists of 23 projects with a net commitment of around 191.1 million U.S. dollars.
