DUSHANBE, July 15, 2016, Asia-Plus — Postponement of the launch of a joint Persian-language TV channel is not politically motivated, Mahmadsaid Shohiyon, the head of the Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting under the Government of Tajikistan, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 15.
According to him, Iran and Afghanistan have not yet fulfilled their obligations on the project for unknown reasons.
“Under a trilateral agreement concluded between Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran, Tajikistan had to provide premises for the joint TV channel,” said Shohiyon. “We have provided premises in the building of the TV Channel
Bahoriston
.”
We will recall that that Iran sent the equipment worth €2 million to Tajikistan for the project in September 2012 but the equipment had not been cleared by Tajik Customs Service. Tajik customs officials said that time that the Iranian side did not have appropriate documents confirming that the equipment is exempted from customs duties. Tajik customs officials reportedly demanded that the supplier pay a US$400,000 customs duty.
According to the Iranian side, the equipment should have been exempted from customs duties in line with a government-to-government agreement between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Tajik customs officials said in September 2012 that no duties are required if the gear is for use by the Iranian Embassy. Otherwise, they said customs duties must be paid by Iran.
“The equipment has become technically obsolete and it now does not meet modern requirements,” Shohiyon told reporters on July 15.
As it had been reported earlier, Tajikistan, Iran and Afghanistan leaders met in Dushanbe in 2006 and agreed to establish a joint television channel. At a two-day ministerial meeting that took place in Dushanbe on March 24-25, 2008, the foreign ministers of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Iran agreed to establish a new Dushanbe-based Persian-language television channel to broadcast in each country. The programs aired by the joint station are expected to focus mainly on cultural issues.
In August 2008, the heads of state of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran signed appropriate documents on the establishment of the join TV channel in Dushanbe on sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. The headquarters of the television channel would be based in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.
But implementation of the Persian-language TV station project has been postponed for an indefinite term due to some technical reasons.
