DUSHANBE, November 13, 2009, Asia-Plus — A two-day conference with participation of representatives from Tajik and Chinese business communities has kicked off in Dushanbe today.
The President of the China-Europe Association for Economic and Technical Cooperation (CEATEC), Mr. Xu Bingjin, arrive in Tajikistan at the head of a delegation, which includes senior representatives of some 50 enterprises from different regions of China, on November 12.
Representatives from relevant ministries and organizations, business associations and private sector are representing Tajikistan at the forum.
Speaking at the forum-inaugurating ceremony, Mr. Xu noted that Chinese delegation had arrived in Tajikistan to discuss ways to promote further expansion of bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Tajikistan and establishment of cooperation between entrepreneurs of the two countries.
“In addition to the already working projects, we intend to discuss new investment and commercial projects, and thereby, to create conditions for expansion of bilateral economic cooperation between our countries,” the CEATEC president said.
He stressed that the Government of China attached significance to expansion of economic cooperation with Central Asia’s states and took efforts to promote further expansion of cooperation within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). “China has repeatedly provided funds to member nations of the SCO for bilateral and multilateral projects. Recently, the Government of China announced allocation of a US$10 billion credit for expansion of bilateral and multilateral cooperation within the SCO area that is evidence of China’s decision to take practical efforts to promote expansion of regional economic cooperation,” Mr. Xu noted.
For his part, Mr. Davlatali Saidov, chairman of the State Committee for investments and State-owned Property Management (GosKomInvest) of Tajikistan, noted that Tajikistan, first of all, needed investments for construction of hydropower facilities, enterprises for processing cotton fiber and aluminum, as well as implementation of transportation development support projects.
Noting that Tajikistan announced a tender for development of the Bolshoi Konimansur silver deposit in the Sughd province, the GosKomInvest head said that the Government of Tajikistan would be glad to see Chinese companies on the list of investors that would be admitted to further participation in the tender after December 14, 2009.
We will recall that only those companies that will lodge their prequalification applications until December 14 will be put on the short list of investors and admitted to further participation in the tender.
According to Saidov, Tajikistan has been taking effective steps to improve investment climate in Tajikistan. “The country’s legislation guarantees equal opportunities for domestic and foreign investors, offering tax and customs preferences, including exemption of investors from paying customs duty, income tax and value added tax (VAT),” said he, “Moreover, investments in construction of hydropower plants are exempted from 9 types of taxes.”
According to GosKomInvest, four Tajik-Chinese joint ventures now operate in Tajikistan: TK-Mobile; Somonkom; Zeravshan Gold Company; and Tajik-Hay Li (phonetically spelled).
In 2008, a two-way trade between Tajikistan and China valued at more than 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, while over the first ten months of this year, it has amounted to some 700 million U.S. dollars.
