DUSHANBE, January 7, Asia-Plus — Qatar intends to invest $2 million in development of bee-keeping in mountain areas of Tajikistan, Asia-Plus has learned at the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection (MoAEP).
Muzaffar Mirzoyev, head of the MoAEP department for animal husbandry, poultry, bee-keeping and fish breeding, said that a memorandum of cooperation was signed during a visit of Tajik delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Abdullo Yuldoshev to Qatar in December 2007.
According to him, representatives from the Asali Tojik (Tajik Honey) State Unitary Enterprise submitted for consideration to Qatari companies a project aimed at development of bee-keeping in the mountain areas of Tajikistan. “Qatari company al-Mahvashi has shown interest and an agreement was reached that its representatives will arrive in Tajikistan in mid-January to discuss the issue in details,” Mirzoyev said.
According to Talbikhuja Shoyev, head of the Asali Tojik Unitary State Enterprise, Asali Tojik now has 739 bee-families. This year, they plan to increase the number of bee-families to 1,339.
We will recall that during his visit to Qatar in May 2007, President Emomali met with Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to discuss bilateral relations. The two leaders’ talks focused on attracting Qatari and Arab investment in Tajikistan. The countries’ foreign ministers and chambers of commerce signed memoranda of cooperation during the visit.
