DUSHANBE, January 6, 2009, Asia-Plus — The branch of Iran’s Imam Khomeini Relief Committee (IKRC) in Tajikistan has gradually been making shift from providing humanitarian aid to providing interest-free loans to the vulnerable sections of Tajikistan’s population, according to IKRC’s head office in Dushanbe.
The representative of IKRC’s office in Dushanbe said that this year, they would focus mainly on providing interest-free loans to the vulnerable families, gradually decreasing humanitarian aid volumes. According to him, this step is taken to promote improvement of standard of living in Tajikistan.
“Since 1993, the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee has provided humanitarian aid to poor families across Tajikistan; however, it has turned out that such an aid does not yield necessary result to promote alleviation of poverty in the country,” said the source, “Therefore, our organization has considered it expedient to gradually shift to providing interest-free loans to poor families, decreasing humanitarian aid volumes.”
He noted that the IKRC last year provided interest-free loans to some 130 residents of Tajikistan.
Iran’s Imam Khomeini Relief Committee has worked in Tajikistan since 1993. Every year, the IKRC provides humanitarian aid to some 10,000 poor people in Tajikistan, according to the source.
