KHOROG, September 14, 2009, Asia-Plus — A meeting to discuss key aspects of assistance strategy for Tajikistan in 2010-2012 was held in Khorog, Gorno Badakhshan on September 12.
Organized by the World Bank Country Office in Tajikistan, the meeting brought together representatives from local authorities, public associations and commercial organizations. They discussed issues related to assistance provided by the World Bank to Tajikistan with working out the development strategy, main obstacles in the way of economic development and prospects of development of the country as whole and separate regions in particular, as well as immediate tasks of the assistance strategy.
Ms. Chiara Bronchi, the World Bank Country Manager for Tajikistan, noted that the main objective of such discussions was in involving the government and civil society organizations in determining the World Bank’s assistance strategy for Tajikistan. Similar discussions had previously been held in Khujand and Qurghon Teppa.
Under the conditions of the financial crisis, the strategic tasks of the Word Bank are in supporting the government and strengthening its potential, mitigating negative impacts of the crisis on the vulnerable sections of the population, and creating conditions for sustainable post-crisis rehabilitation, according to Ms. Bronchi. The main task of the strategy, on which cooperation between the World Bank and the Government of Tajikistan will be based in the coming three years, is development of the strategy.
The meeting participants offered a number of proposals on how to alleviate poverty in Gorno Badakhshan. According to them, projects for rehabilitation of local roads and increase in energy capacities of the region, construction of enterprises for development of natural resources and processing of farm products, attraction of loans to increase production capacity, involvement of civil society in implementation and monitoring of the strategy projects under implementation should be included into the strategy.
