DUSHANBE, April 7, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan has failed to reach an agreement on increasing Uzbek natural-gas supplies. 

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Shavkat Shoimov, the deputy director of Tojikgaz (Tajik state natural-gas distributor), said Monday afternoon that Tajik delegation led by the Tojikgaz director general Fathiddin Muhsiddinov has failed to reach an agreement with officials from Uztransgaz, the state gas producer in Uzbekistan, on increasing natural-gas supplies from Uzbekistan. 

“The Uzbek side has refused to make concessions to Tajikistan and increase natural-gas supplies”, Shoimov said, noting that Uzbekistan had cut natural-gas shipments to Tajikistan due to $7 million in arrears that Tojikgaz owes to Uzbekistan.  According to him, Uzbekistan will increase gas supplies only after Tajikistan repays its gas debts.          

In the meantime, Barqi Tojik power holding alone now owes $6.9 million to Tojikgaz, Shoimov said.

At present, Uzbekistan supplies natural gas to Tajikistan at the rate of 1.3 million cubic meters per day, while it had earlier supplied natural gas to Tajikistan at the rate of more than 2 million cubic per day. 

As it had been reported earlier, the Tojikgaz top manager Fathiddin Muhsiddinov was in Tashkent to negotiate increase in gas supplies at the end of last week.  

 We will recall that Tajikistan plans to import 600 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan this year.