DUSHANBE, December 14, Asia-Plus — On Saturday December 15, representatives from the Tajik government, chiefs and senior representatives from diplomatic missions and international organizations active in Tajikistan will join Kazakh Embassy in Dushanbe in events dedicated to mark the 16th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s Independence.
A huge country covering a territory equivalent to the whole of Western Europe, Kazakhstan has vast mineral resources and enormous economic potential.
Since independence, there has been major foreign investment in the Caspian oil sector. Oil development has brought rapid economic growth.
An oil pipeline linking the Tengiz oil field in western Kazakhstan to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk opened in 2001. There are plans to escalate oil exports by linking Kazakh resources to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which began operating in summer 2005. A pipeline to China was opened in late 2005 and other routes are also being explored.
In his 2006 state-of-the nation address, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev stated that one of strategic tasks of Kazakhstan is to join the world’s 50 most competitive countries in the coming decade.
Diplomatic relations between Tajikistan and Kazakhstan were established in January 1993.
During President Nazarbayev’s visit to Tajikistan last September, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan signed a number of agreements on investment and trade. President Rahmon said Kazakh-Tajik trade has increased 57 percent in January-July 2007 compared to the same period last year.
President Rahmon and his Kazakh counterpart agreed to set up a joint investment fund of $100 million, with Kazakhstan providing 80 percent of the money. The fund will be used to invest in projects in Tajikistan. Kazakh president noted that that fund would give priority to the economic areas that are of interests to both countries, including power generation, agriculture, the mining industry and other important spheres of economy. Nazabayev also said that the Investment Fund of Kazakhstan was considering participating in projects to build small power plants in Tajikistan.
