DUSHANBE, November 4, 2009, Asia-Plus — One of priorities of Tajikistan’s development program is to bring the country out of the transportation deadlock, Minister of Transport and Communications Olimjon Boboyev remarked at an international seminar entitled “On the Path to Efficient Transportation Roads” in Dushanbe on November 4.
“Surface transport is of significant importance for Tajikistan, because the country is located at a crossroads linking Central Asia’s states to South Asia and Middle East,” said the minister, “However, the country’s transit potential has not been used in full because of poor infrastructure.”
Noting that the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have been supporting implementation of the transportation development projects in Tajikistan, Boboyev stressed that the country had to consider the issue of introduction and use of toll roads.
Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Makoto Ojiro, the ADB Country Director for Tajikistan, noted that the Bank was aware of Tajik government’s plans to enhance the transportation infrastructure and stressed that it was necessary to provide further assistance to Tajikistan in that direction.
For his part, Mr. Yoshihiro Nakayama, Chargé d”Affaires of the Embassy of Japan in Dushanbe, noted that Tajikistan was faced with many problems connected with transportation infrastructure and it had to review its road policy,
Organized by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, ADB and JICA offices in Dushanbe, the seminar bought together representatives of international donor organizations, donor countries and relevant ministries and organizations of Tajikistan.
