DUSHANBE, November 18, Asia-Plus -- At the end of last week, Deputy Agriculture Minister, Shukrullo Rahimanzarov met with representatives of the Islamic Development bank in Tajikistan. 

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Narzullo Dadboyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), said that providing assistance to Tajikistan with developing its economy and reducing poverty in the country had been the focus of the meeting.

According to him, the IDB representative in Tajikistan Hikmat Aliyev noted that their bank has been conducting a survey of a level of poverty in rural areas.  Aliyev noted that the IDB is expected to provide 1.2 million U.S. dollars in the future for purchase of seeds of high-yielding variety of wheat that will be distributed to the rural population, the spokesman said.