DUSHANBE, January 20, 2014, Asia-Plus — A border marketplace Samarkandak in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken district has reportedly been closed.
Abdunazar Muhammadov, an entrepreneur from the Tajik northern city of Isfara, who has been engaged in livestock trading over the past several years, says that after a January 11 border clash the Kyrgyz unilaterally closed border crossing points on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
“Tajik entrepreneurs now do not have access to the Samarkandak market place while Kyrgyz entrepreneurs cannot sell their main products: dried fruits and livestock,” Muhammadov told Asia-Plus by phone today morning.
According to Muhammadov, his Kyrgyz partner Arslanbek Turgunov says that the closure of the marketplace has led to the sharp fall in prices for livestock and dried fruits while prices for goods that have been supplied to the marketplace by Tajik entrepreneurs have increased sharply.
“Thus, the price for a 50-kilogram of wheat flour has increased from 120-130 somoni to 170-180 somoni,” Muhammadov said.
Meanwhile, the Isfara consumers’ association says the closure of the border has not affected the meat prices in Isfara because the city produces enough meat.
The Samarkandak marketplace was established more than ten years ago and trade has been conducted in the marketplace in the national currencies of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
