The European Union and Tajikistan held their seventh Cooperation Committee meeting and the second meeting of the EU-Tajikistan Sub-Committee on Development Cooperation on June 6, 2019 in Dushanbe, according to the press center of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MoEDT).

Co-chaired by Mr. Luc Devigne, Director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia and the OSCE at the European External Action Service and Mr. Zavqi Zavqizoda, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan, the meeting reportedly reaffirmed the joint commitment of the EU and of Tajikistan to strengthen relations in the framework of the EU-Tajikistan Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA). 

The meeting reportedly provided an opportunity to exchange views on a new European Union’s Strategy for Central Asia. 

For the purpose of improving well-being for vulnerable populations by providing them with electricity, the European Union has awarded a €20 million grant to support construction of the Sebzor hydroelectric power plant (HPP) in Roshtqala district of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), the MoEDT press center says.

Recall, an official commencement of construction of the Sebzor HPP took place in GBAO’s Roshtqala district on July 29, 2015.  

President Rahmon attended an official commencement of construction of Sebzor HPP on July 29, 2015

The Sebzor HPP with capacity of 10 MW is expected to allow meeting the region’s requirements in electricity and exporting electricity to the neighboring areas of Afghanistan.

The hydropower plant that is being built in the Sebzor area of the Mirsaid Mirshakar jamoat some 15 kilometers of Khorog, the capital of Gorno Badakhshan, will generate up to 60 million KWh of electricity per year.  A total cost of the project is reportedly 36.8 million U.S. dollars. 

The Sebzor hydropower plant is being constructed within the framework of the program of construction of small hydropower plants at the expense of domestic and foreign investors for the period of 2009-2020.

Adopted by the Government of Tajikistan in 2009, this program provides for the construction of 189 small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 103.6 MW and generation of 800 million kWh of electricity per year.