KHOROG/DUSHANBE, July 11, 2009, Asia-Plus — The recent developments in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have not directly affected operation of the only border crossing between Tajikistan and China.
The first deputy head of the GBAO customs committee, Yormamad Faqirov, said in an interview with Asia-Plus that the Kulma border crossing currently operated under normal regime.
“However, cargo traffic via the crossing have decreased significantly in recent week,” said Faqirov, “A week ago, at least 10-15 vehicles were proceeding via the crossing while at present not more than one or two vehicles are proceedings via the Kulma border post.” According to him, the crossing operation schedule has not been changed. “All services work five hours a day, except Saturday and Sunday,” he said.
The border crossing Kulma was reopened for traffic on May 5 this year. Sine May 1, 2008, the crossing has worked every day, except weekends, from May though November.
The Tajik-China trade route, opened in 2004, runs from Khorog, the capital of Gorno Badakhshan in southeastern Tajikistan, over a high-altitude plateau and then down into China, where it ends in the city of Kashgar, 700 kilometers away. As conditions are so tough at the Kulma border crossing, which is located on a mountain pass 4,400 meters high, until May 1 2008, the gateway had stayed open only 15 days out of every month, while from November through April it had been closed altogether.
In the meantime, Ms. Nazira Davlatova, a chief spokesperson for Tajik Air (Tajik national air carrier), told Asia-Plus on Friday that there have been no any interruptions in operation of flights from Dushanbe to Urumqi. “The flights are operated in accordance with schedule twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays,” she said.
According to the MFA information department, no notes on temporary suspension of travels to China have been released.
The State Committee for Statistics says that trade between Tajikistan and China has amounted to 209.352 million US dollars over the first five months of this year.
