Tajikistan Seeks Chinese Investment
Friday, 19 January, 2007
Tajikistan Seeks Chinese Investment
Friday, 19 January, 2007
Rahmonov began a six-day visit to China on January 15, and by the end of the first day of talks, he had signed six documents concerning Tajik-Chinese cooperation, including bilateral agreements such as a Treaty on Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation.
The emphasis of the president’s third visit to Beijing is on economic rather than political matters.
Tajikistan’s ministry for economic development and trade has told NBCentralAsia that China will be offered opportunities to invest up to a billion dollars in several major projects. The Tajiks want Chinese help in building three hydroelectric power stations on the Zeravshan river, in constructing glass-packaging and cement plants, repairing the Vahdat to Dangara road southeast of Dushanbe, and replacing its railway rolling stock.
Experts interviewed by NBCentralAsia say such projects are likely to attract Chinese investors. Saifullo Safarov, deputy director of the Centre for Strategic Studies, says the Tajik-Chinese relationship has grown much closer recently, and Rahmonov’s visit is expected to raise it to a qualitatively new level.
Political scientist Khodi Abdujabbor notes that the developing Chinese-Tajik relationship over recent years reflects a general trend for Beijing to boost economic ties with Central Asian states both out of concern for security on its western borders and to promote economic development in its own outlying provinces.
This desire for cooperation can be seen in Beijing’s support of various investment projects across the region, including Tajikistan, where last year China invested more than 650 million dollars in laying two electricity transmission lines, digging two tunnels, and reconstructing a highway. Project funding came in the form of long-term loans with a largely symbolic annual interest rate of around two per cent and soft terms for the repayment period.
“China is interested in importing electricity for its fast-developing western provinces, and it is providing us with credit on preferential terms which will not be a great burden to the government budget,” said Abdujabbor, explaining why China has an interest in placing funds in Tajikistan, whose substantial water resources make it rich in hydroelectric power.
Vladimir Sobkalov, the deputy director of Tajikistan Railways, one of the possible beneficiaries of Rahmonov’s trip, also believes the Chinese are likely to invest since both loan repayment and profits will be guaranteed.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
