DUSHANBE, December 24, 2013, Asia-Plus -- A meeting of the Tajik-Kazakh commission for trade and economic cooperation, presided over by co-chairmen Qodir Qosim, Chairman of Tajikistan’s State Committee on Investments and State-owned Property Management (GosKomInvest) and Nurlan Kapparov, Minister for Environmental Protection ad Water Resources of Kazakhstan, took place in the Kazakh capital Astana at the end of last week.

The meeting participants noted that there was still considerable room for expansion of economic ties between the two countries.

They discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Kazakhstan in sectors like industry, energy, labor migration, agriculture, science and education, environmental protection, and sports.   

The meeting participants pointed to the necessity of intensifying activities of Kazakh-Tajik Joint Investment Fund.

We will recall that the heads of state of Tajikistan and Kazakhstan signed an investment deal in Dushanbe in September 2007.  The sides agreed to set up a joint investment fund of 100 million U.S. dollars that will be used to invest in projects in Tajikistan.  Under the agreement, Kazakhstan provides 80 percent of the money for the fund.  The fund reportedly gives priority to the economic areas that are of interest of both countries: electric power generation, agriculture, the mining industry and other important spheres of the economy.

In January-October this year, Kazakhstan has accounted for 12.7 percent of Tajikistan’s external trade turnover.

Over the same ten-month period, a two-way trade between Tajikistan and Kazakhstan has reportedly amounted to 548.6 million U.S. dollars.

The next meeting of the Tajik-Kazakh commission for trade and economic cooperation will be held next year in Dushanbe.