DUSHANBE, March 5, 2014, Asia-Plus — A border marketplace Samarqandak located at the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken district is expected to reopen within the next few days.
An official source at the Sughd regional administration says the border marketplace will resume operation on March 8.
We will recall that the marketplace Samarqandak was closed in January after tensions escalated into exchanges of gunfire along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
Entrepreneurs from the Tajik northern city of Isfara say 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.
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 Samarqandak marketplace was established more than ten years ago and trade has been conducted in the marketplace in the national currencies of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
