DUSHANBE, March 25, 2011, Asia-Plus — Russian tariffs on oil and gas exports for Tajikistan will be canceled only when relations between Tajikistan and Russia will become warmer, Tajik expert Hojimuhammad Umarov told Asia-Plus Friday afternoon, commenting on Russia’s decision to cancel export duty on light oil for Kyrgyzstan.
According to him, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev reached an agreement on cancellation of Russian tariffs on oil and gas for his country during a working visit to Moscow and a face-to-face meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“Following the negotiations, the Kyrgyz government stated that it will rely on the Russian Federation, which is the only strategic partner of this republic,” noted the expert, “Thereby the Kyrgyz authorities have made it known that all geopolitical issues of this country with other foreign counties are sidelined.”
Umarov considers that Kyrgyzstan has closer ties with Russia than Tajikistan. “Strategically, Kyrgyzstan is now closer to Russia than Tajikistan,” he said, adding that current atmosphere of relations between Tajikistan and Russia is not the best.
“The relations between the two countries have deteriorated especially after publication of WikiLeaks cables regarding meetings of high-ranking Tajik state officials with the U.S. ambassador,” noted Umarov, “Besides, Tajikistan has not asked Russia for restoration of the tax-free status well.”
We will recall that Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev announced on March 23 that Russia has canceled export duty on light oil for Kyrgyzstan.
Like Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan was exempted from paying Russian tariffs on light oil exports from 1995-2010. When Russia cancelled Tajikistan”s tax exemption last May, Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov sent a letter to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin asking for the tax-free status to be restored. Afterward, working groups from the two sides held several rounds of negotiations and the Tajik side has declared that the issue over tariffs was still under consideration by the Russian side.
On May 1, 2010, Russia introduced the export duty on light oil for Tajikistan at the rate of 203.7 U.S. dollars per one ton and on June 1, the export duty was raised to 209.1 U.S. dollars. On December 1, 2010, Russia raised the export duty on light oil to US$226.20. On February 1, 2011, Russia raised the export duty on light oil to U$232.20 and on March 1, 2011, Russian tariffs on light oil exports rose 5.3 percent to US$250.00.
According to Russian media reports, Tajikistan imports 92.9 percent of its fuel from Russia and the Russian gas giant Gazprom dominates the Tajik fuel market.
