DUSHANBE


, January 5,

Asia

-Plus – Starting from today,

Asia

-Plus is launching English version of its website

www.asia-plus.tj

.

The English version of the Asia-Plus’ website contains daily news in the same rubrics as the Russian version does, separate articles about Tajikistan published in other media, exchange rates of currencies of Central Asia’s states, weather forecast, as well as information about the Asia-Plus news agency.  

KHUJAND, January 5, Asia-Plus — Last year, 558 traffic accidents were reported in the



northern province


of Sughd, the Sughd traffic police directorate chief, Otabek Rahimov announced at a news conference in Khujand on January 4.    

During the news conference it was noted that 137 people had been killed and almost 600 others had been injured in those 558 accidents in northern


Tajikistan


.   433 traffic accidents were caused by violation of traffic regulations by drivers of private transport, Otabek Rahimov said.  “In total, more than 20,000 cases of violation of traffic regulations were registered last year; of them, 1613 cases are related to driving car in a state of intoxication,” the Sughd traffic police chief said.  

            At present, some 200 traffic police inspectors re working in


Sughd


Province


, who are compelled to work for two after 50-percent redundancy.

“Our efforts are aimed, first of all, at carrying out explanatory and educational work among drivers,” Otabek Rahimov said, calling on representatives from media to actively participate in this process 

DUSHANBE, January 5, Asia-Plus — The European Commission, the European Union’s executive, announced Tuesday [January 3] that it is providing Euro 66 million in assistance to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to help fight poverty and to further enhance regional cooperation.  

According to information from the European Commission’s Office in Tajikistan, this assistance is provided for supporting carrying out of national-level institutional, legal and administrative reforms.  The source has told Asia-Plus that funds will be coming to addressees already this year.

The assistance forms part of a long-term program of the European Union support designed to promote stability, security and economic development in the region.  

DUSHANBE, January 4, Asia-Plus – Compared to 2004 a number of labor migrants from Tajikistan who left the country seeking better employment opportunities in January-November 2005 has reduced, deputy head of the Tajik Migration Service within the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Daler Homidov, has said in his interview with Asia-Plus. 

He says that according to official data, 420,622 Tajiks left the country in 2004 in search of seasonal work, while in January-November last year, 386,616 citizens of Tajikistan left the republic for seasonal work.  According to him, reduction in flow of labor migrants is, first of all, connected with creation of new jobs with good wages in Tajikistan itself.  Homidov also does not ruled out the possibility that reduction in migration flow has also been linked to problems with registration and employment outside the republic.  

The Tajik Migration Service official has also noted that they submitted to the Government the 2006-2010 Migration Development Program for endorsement.   “This Program provides for establishment of information and resource centers for labor migrants in Dushanbe, Gorno Badakhshan, Khatlon and Sughd provinces,” the Asia-Plus interlocutor said.

DUSHANBE


, January 4, Asia-Plus – International conference on investments and privatizations is supposed to be held in


Dushanbe


in the autumn this year.    

The conference is staged by


Tajikistan


’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) under support of the president’s office and government of country.  

According to information from the CCI, the conference is aiming to discuss issues related to the implementation of strategic investment projects in


Tajikistan


, strengthening of economic and scientific-technical ties both in bilateral format and within regional and international organizations.  

The source says the conference is dedicated to promote development trade-economic and investment cooperation, creation of favorable conditions for attraction of foreign investments in the implementation of the main projects, development of commercial, financial-banking system, launch of joint ventures and development of natural resources in the republic.  

It is supposed that senior representatives of chambers of commerce from Asian, African, European and CIS countries, as well as representatives from the Islamic financial institutions, including the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), 1

^st

Islamic Investment Bank and others, will take pat in the conference’s work.    

The source noted that analogous conference was held in


Bahrain


in February 2005.  Representatives from more than 50 countries participated at that conference.  Tajikistan was represented at the Bahrain conference by Sharif Saidov, head of Tajik CCI.

DUSHANBE


, January 4,

Asia

-Plus – Letter by leader of


Tajikistan


’s Islamic Revival Party (IRPT), Said Abdullo Nuri, in response to statement of Dushanbe Vodokanal (DVK –


Dushanbe


water supply system) has not satisfied the DVK leadership, according to information from the DVK press service.  

Akobir Ashurov, a spokesman for the DVK, has told Asia-Plus that on December 31, they received e-mail from Mr. Nuri, in which he notes that he has been misunderstood.  The letter runs that when he was saying about corruption in the area of the


Dushanbe


water supply system he did not mean the DVK concretely, according to Ashurov. 

            As it had been reported earlier, the DVK head, Behruz Safarov, on December 29 told journalists in


Dushanbe


that they intended to file suit against the IRPT leader for libel.  According to him, he is going to do this after Said Abdullo Nuri’s interview with the newspaper “Millat” (#17,

December 22, 2005

) allegedly defamed the DVK administration.  “In this interview, the IRPT leader veiledly accuses the DVK administration of corruption,” Safarov said, adding that Nuri did not produce any evidence to support his accusations.

Ashurov says that in his letter, Nuri did not apologize to the DVK leadership.  “Now our director will apply to court to prove his case,” he said, adding that it will happen in near future.  

In the meantime, when Asia-Plus has applied for comments to the IRPT representatives, they just said that they have already been informed of the DVK leadership’s intention to file suit against their leader.  However, they refrained from giving any comments pleading absence of the party’s spokesman.  

DUSHANBE, January 4, Asia-Plus Tajikistan is going to raise the rate of fixed-line telephone communication.

Yesterday evening, Deputy Tajik Minister of Communications, Ibrohim Usmonov, told Asia-Plus that as of February 1, the rate of fixed-line telephone communications would increase four times and be 0.004 Somonis per minute, compared to 0.001 Somonis last year.  As it had been reported earlier, Tajik Minister of Communications, Said Zuvaydov, speaking to journalists in Dushanbe on October 17 noted that the increase in the rate of the fixed telephone communication was connected with increasing technical expenses in this area and the present payments of the fixed-line telephone communication do not cover these expenses.  The other reason for increasing the fixed-line telephone communication rate is the necessity of paying off the loan provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), according to Mr. Zuvaydov.

            In the meantime, the source in the Tajik Anti-Monopoly Committee today morning told Asia-Plus that taking into account low solvency of the population and other calculations it was decided to raise the rate of fixed-line telephone communication from 0.001 Somonis to 0.002 Somonis per minute.  The subscription fee will remain the same – 1.30 Somonis per month.