On 16 April 2024, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) organised a seminar in Dushanbe to present the findings of three recent reports on the business environment and connectivity in Central Asia, focusing on the results for Tajikistan in particular. The event was held in co-operation with the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan and benefitted from financial support from the European Union (EU), as well as the Republic of Lithuania and the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Mr Marc Buchmann, Head of Co-operation at the EU Delegation to Tajikistan, opened the event and stressed the importance of supporting entrepreneurship development not only to attract investment but also to support job creation. He recalled that some important structural reforms have not yet taken place in Tajikistan, but noted that digitalisation efforts have been supporting the reduction of corruption.
Mr Ashurboy Solehzoda, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, expressed gratitude to the EU and the OECD for their support and expertise. He mentioned Tajikistan’s strong economic performance, thanks to increases in capital investment as well as growth in agriculture, industry and trade. He also explained that Tajikistan was reviewing its investment law with support from the World Bank. He observed that disappointing investment attraction performance in 2023 compels the government to commit to reforms.
Ms Céleste Laporte Talamon, Policy Analyst in the Central Asia unit of the OECD’s Eurasia Division, presented the findings of the monitoring report on the legal environment for business and investment in Central Asia and Tajikistan. She noted recent improvements in the trade framework, confirmed by a constant progress of Tajikistan’s performance in the OECD’s Trade Facilitation Indicators (TFIs), but explained that implementation challenges remained, and that persisting legal uncertainty still constitutes a challenge in gaining investors’ trust.
Mr William Tompson, Head of the OECD’s Eurasia Division, shared the results of the reports on trade facilitation in Central Asia and the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. The first report highlights significant progress made by regional governments in trade facilitation over the past five years. The results overall show improvements in public-private sector consultations and information availability. However, there remains room to improve trade-related legislation, fostering collaboration among border agencies, and pursuing efforts in the automation and digitalisation of trade procedures within countries and between them. Regarding the second report, which focuses on the potential of the Middle Corridor, Mr. Tompson emphasised the importance of increased regional economic and better trade integration to generate traffic and demand along the route. Beyond soft measures to facilitate trade, substantial investments in the infrastructure network—specifically multimodal capacity and rail capacity—will be necessary. Finally, he stressed the need for governments to enhance the corridor’s attractiveness by improving co-ordination across different levels of government at both the national and regional levels.
Mr Ashurboy Solehzoda, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan, reacted on the findings of the OECD reports and requested the OECD’s assistance in supporting the review of indicators for the targets of Tajikistan’s development strategy. He also announced the government’s intention to assess the share of the population with a middle income status, following a review conducted in 2017. On connectivity, Tajikistan’s priority is to overcome its communication deadlock. As such, four hundred international roads have been developed since independence. Going forward, challenges related to the lack of logistics centres and the low development of road and railway connections need addressing.
Mr Narzullo Malikzoda, Deputy Chair of the Tax Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, thanked the OECD for taking into account the Committee’s feedback on the report. He explained that the reform of the Tax Code has served to reduce the tax burden and improved tax collection. He described the Tax Committee’s outreach efforts, notably with the publication of weekly newsletters on the Committee’s official website.
Ms Hurshedai Kodiri, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Investment and State Property Management of Tajikistan, reacted to the findings of the report stating that the government intends to reduce the number of licences and permits by 60%. She also explained that the review of the investment law aims to simplify entry to foreign investors. Finally, she mentioned the adoption of a programme for women and youth entrepreneurship, to support economic inclusion.
Ms Shanny Campbell, ADB Country Director for Tajikistan, reflected on the findings of the report. She highlighted that many of the conclusions echo ADB recommendations to the government, and underlined that the strong GDP and low inflation should not hide the fact that Tajikistan’s economy is small, highly dependent on minerals and vulnerable to climate change. She stressed that Tajikistan has a great potential in the green economy and welcomed the development of a green economic development strategy and the upcoming launch of the country’s climate finance plan.
Media source: https://eu-cai.org/oecd-tajikistan-dissemination-seminar-on-reports-on-central-asia/