On December 22, Abdurahmon Abdurahmonzoda, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan met here with Ms. Parinaz Pishdadian, Head of Iran’s Center of Trade Fekr-e Bartar, according to the press center of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MoEDT).
The parties reportedly discussed issues related to establishing joint food producing ventures in Tajikistan’s free economic zones (FEZs).
The Tajik side proposed to establish joint ventures on producing mineral water, tomato paste and canned goods in Tajikistan’s FEZs, the MoEDT press center said.
For her part, Ms. Parinaz Pishdadian reportedly welcomed the proposal noting that this initiative will facilitate further expansion of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.
The parties also discussed the preparation and forthcoming signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the free economic zones of Tajikistan and Fekr-e Bartar Center of Trade as well as important of further expansion of trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.
According to data from the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, the bilateral trade between Tajikistan and Iran over the first eleven months of this year has valued at 93.2 million U.S. dollars, which is 44.6 million U.S. dollars more than in the same period last year. Over the reporting period, Iran’s share in the structure of Tajikistan’s external trade turnover has amounted to 1.7 percent and Iran was in the 9th place among major trading partners of Tajikistan in January-November this year.
Five free economic zones now operate in Tajikistan: FEZ Sughd in Sughd province; FEZs Panj, Danhara, and Kulob in Khatlon province; and FEZ Ishkashim in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region – GBAO).
The free economic zones provide preferential terms for economic, financial, trade, information, and other activities for investors. The FEZs offer incentives to investors, including preferences on taxation and customs procedures.
In the early 2000s, foreign direct investment has remained low because of political and economic instability, the poor domestic financial system, and Tajikistan’s geographic isolation. To attract foreign investment and technology, Tajikistan has offered to establish free economic zones in which firms receive advantages on taxes, fees, and customs. In 2004, the parliament passed a law on free economic zones. The zones reportedly offer customs and tax incentives to qualified investors that invest at least 500,000 USD and import at least 90% of the technology and equipment.
Fekr-e Bartar Legal Institute has initiated its activities as of 2013 with the purpose of legal professional advisory in the field of registering and changing companies and registering trade names and trademarks and industrial designs and inventions patents rendered to local and foreign natural and legal persons, especially focused on state of the art software technologies-dependent organizational portal and electronic services. Since the establishment, the institutes has reportedly taken benefit from the new software development standards and methods supported by the technical team composed of a group of experienced men of law and professionals, experts and attorneys at law and have managed to succeed in several cases and continue the way as per a client satisfaction of 97%. From the very beginning and relying on knowledge, specialty and experience of its experts and lawyers, Fekr-e Bartar has managed to win more than 30,000 cases based on specialty follow up and state of the art knowledge through taking benefit from state of the art knowledge and integrated smart software.
