Development Strategy Hinges on Foreign Donors

International donors have allocated 600 million US dollars for Tajikistan’s poverty alleviation and development strategies. NBCentralAsia observers say the Tajik government will have to convince them that it will not squander these funds before donors will release further money.



On June 2, Tajikistan’s foreign donors got together in Dushanbe to discuss the country’s development and poverty alleviation strategies. The consultation group of 26 donors included Germany, the Unites States, Great Britain, France, Japan and Switzerland as well as international organisations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank.



Tajikistan needs around 13 billion dollars to fund the two strategies that set goals development to 2009, and poverty reduction until 2015. Architects of the strategy hope to attract most of that sum from abroad, and donors at the meeting in Dushanbe pledged an initial 600 million dollars for the next three years.



Tajikistan is internationally recognised as the poorest state in Central Asia and is one of the United Nations’ priority countries for meeting its millennium development goals.



The donors meeting was the first of its kind since 2003, and British ambassador Graeme Lotten told NBCentralAsia that it was an important chance to “develop a joint strategy which several donors will follow”.



Political scientist Khodi Abdujjabor believes the forum shows that the international community has confidence in Tajikistan and its leadership, allowing the country to hold international talks “on its own terms”.



But Lotten stresses that unless the current decline in educational standards can be reversed, Tajikistan’s development plans may be thwarted within a few years.



As well as financial support, there is also some criticism of the government. Donors say the authorities are not doing enough to develop private enterprise, reduce unemployment or find a solution to the country’s mounting foreign debt.



Political scientist Parviz Mullojanov recommends that the government should do everything it can to convince donors that their funds will be spent wisely, asserting that future funding and the success of the strategies will be safeguarded by creating more jobs and reducing corruption levels.



Jobs can only be generated by tackling the rising debt in cotton farming, addressing the poor domestic investment climate, and making it easier for small businesses to grow, Mullojanov argues. Nor can corruption be dealt with unless there are fundamental reforms to government and the law enforcement agencies.



“Until these problems are solved, it should not be expected that donor funds will be used efficiently,” he said.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)