DUSHANBE, June 17, 2009, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmon today morning received visiting Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, according to presidential pres service.
In the course of the talks, Rahmon and Strauss-Kahn discussed state and prospects of further expansion of cooperation between Tajikistan and the Fund as well as issues related to mitigation of effects of the global financial crisis.
President Rahmon expressed gratitude to the IMF for a three-year (about US$116 million) arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for Tajikistan to support the Tajik authorities” economic program. Tajik leader expressed satisfaction that major part of those funds would be provided already this year.
The two also considered issues related to assistance the Fund and other donors could provided to Tajikistan to mitigate effects of the global crisis.
During the meeting, it was noted that preferential loans and grants that had been provided to the country to this day were not enough for efficient implementation of the Tajik government’s anti-crisis measures.
For his part, Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn assessed the government’s anti-crisis measures, in particular social and financial policy, positively, noting that the issue of increase in financial assistance was still under consideration of the Fund and the amount of assistance would be determined in the near future.
The IMF managing director noted that the government’s policy for providing country’s energy independence was feasible and said that natural resources would allow ensuring stable development of Tajikistan’s society and economy in the future, the press service said.
As it had been reported earlier, Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrived in Dushanbe yesterday morning. His visit to Tajikistan is part of his tour of four Central Asia’s states. The tour started on June 15 and Kazakhstan was the first leg of the IMF managing director’s tour of Central Asia.
Today, Mr. Strauss-Kahn is leaving Dushanbe for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and on June 18, he will visit Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The purpose of the tour is for the IMF managing director to meet with the authorities of the four Central Asia countries, as well as with parliamentarians, representatives of civil society, and academia to discuss cooperation issues as well as how best the international community, including the Fund, can assist these countries in their response to the financial crisis.
