DUSHANBE, January 17, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Tajik-Russian intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation will meet in Dushanbe from January 22-24, according to Tajikistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI).

“Co-chaired by Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda and Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, the commission is expected to dsicuss 18 issues,” a source at Tajikistan’s CCI said.

According to him, the commission will thoroughly study state and prospects of further expansion of economic cooperation between the two countries

In parallel, a conference entitled “Russia-Tajikistan: Business Dialogue” will take place in the Tajik capital from January 22-23.

125 Tajik-Russian joint ventures now operate in Tajikistan; fifteen of them have been launched over the past three years.  The majority of Tajik-Russian joint ventures is based in Dushanbe and cities of the northern Sughd province.

The previous 11th meeting of the commission that was held in Moscow in 2010 discussed a broad range of issues related to cooperation between Tajikistan and the Russian Federation in energy, agrarian, industrial and educational sectors.

In 2013, a two-way trade between Tajikistan and Russia valued at 1.029 billion U.S. dollars, which was 96.4 percent of the 2012 level.  This consisted of Tajikistan’s exports to Russia estimated at 123.095 million U.S. dollars and Tajikistan’s imports from the Russian Federation worth 906.2 million U.S. dollars.

Russia is one of the main trading partners of Tajikistan.  Last year, the Russian Federation accounted for 10.6 percent of Tajikistan’s exports and 22 percent of Tajikistan’s imports.