DUSHANBE, February 19, Asia-Plus  - The OSCE Center in Dushanbe opened today a trans-border trade promotion center in Khatlon’s Jaloliddin Rumi (formerly Kolkhozobod) district to help develop trade relations between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

"We strongly believe in developing trade between the neighboring countries not only on the governmental level, but also on the level of the rural population, to give small businessmen a chance to improve their well-being. In the long run a prosperous economy is measured by the stable income of ordinary people,” said Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of the OSCE Center in Dushanbe.

Ms. Rukhshona Najmiddinova, Senior Press and Public Information Assistant, OSCE Center in Dushanbe, said that the Economic Unit of the OSCE Center in Dushanbe has launched a number of initiatives to support trade development between Tajikistan and its neighbors, particularly Afghanistan.

In 2007, two trade promotion centers were opened in the Gorno Badakhshan at bridges connecting the region with Afghanistan.  A third centre will be opened near Jirgatol to promote trade between Tajik and Kyrgyz entrepreneurs.

The new center in Jalolidin Rumi District, 140 kilometers south of Dushanbe, is the focus of particular attention because it assists users of the new bridge across the Panj River. “This is likely to be the main trade route between Tajikistan and Afghanistan,” said Bess Brown, the Economic Officer of the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe.

Opening trans-border trade promotion centers responds directly to the mandate of the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe, which tasks the organization with promoting economic stability in Tajikistan. A decision of the Ministerial Council in Madrid in 2007 called for more intensive efforts by the OSCE to enhance engagement with Afghanistan, an OSCE Asian Partner for Cooperation.