Tajikistan International Affairs - The Times Of Central Asia

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Responsible AI Rankings: Uzbekistan Leads in Central Asia

The Global Center on AI Governance has published a report titled “Results of the Global Index on Responsible AI in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.” Among Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan has been judged to use artificial intelligence in the most responsible way. Recent AI initiatives in Uzbekistan cover fields including cultural and linguistic diversity, international cooperation, public sector skills development, and transparency. Kazakhstan ranks second in the region. Among Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan ranks first for the number of government initiatives related to responsible AI. Kyrgyzstan ranks third in the region, demonstrating significant non-governmental sector participation in responsible AI. However, the need for a comprehensive government system affects its overall outcome. The report states that the country has received a high rating for responsible AI governance, second only to Uzbekistan in the region. However, due to the scarcity of government frameworks, which, along with government initiatives, had the most weight in the index score, Kyrgyzstan scored lower in the Responsible AI Index. Tajikistan is the only Central Asian country with an AI national strategy aimed at development until 2040. It ranks fourth in the region. However, this strategy covers only 5 out of 19 thematic directions. Tajikistan's scores are relatively high regarding responsible AI governance; however, the country has the most passive non-state sector among the pillars assessed. Turkmenistan has the lowest indicator in the region. Government structures related to the responsible use of artificial intelligence have not been identified in the country.

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Tajikistan-Born Singer, Criticized in Russia, Prepares to Release an Anti-War Song

In 2023, Tajik-Russian singer Manizha Sanghin, harshly criticized in Russia for her public comments on sensitive issues, travelled to the picturesque “Valley of the Forty Girls” in southern Tajikistan to record an anti-war song to be released on Friday. The mountainous location, known to Tajiks as Childukhtaron, derives its name from ancient lore about a group of girls who turned into towering rock formations when an invading force swept through their homeland. Whether the girls-turned-rocks were meant to block the invaders, or simply bear silent witness, depends on the telling. Tajikistan-born Sanghin said she felt an affinity for the girls as standing at the foot of the rock, she recorded ‘Gun’. Written a decade ago, the song was originally about the devastating civil war in Tajikistan in the 1990s but had been put to rest after being abandoned by music producers in Britain. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, they talked about the song again and the singer, a goodwill ambassador for UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, said in YouTube video, "I thought, I have to release it. Because now, it's not just a song about war in Tajikistan. It's a song about war in Ukraine, in Gaza, and all wars around the globe." Music producer Liz Horsman who described Sanghin as" brave in the face of ongoing investigations into her anti-war stance,” readily agreed to record the song and since the war made travel between Britain and Russia impossible, the pair arranged to meet in Tajikistan. Seven months pregnant with her daughter, Sanghin described her return to her homeland as “very poetic”. Over the years, the singer has sparked a fair share of controversy. In 2021, when she represented Russia at the Eurovision contest with a song called “Russian Woman,” she was condemned for advocating women’s and LGBT rights. She was then denounced online and Russian promoters cancelled many of her concerts after she criticized the invasion of Ukraine. She was further alienated following her comments about the brutal treatment of several Tajik suspects in a terrorist attack that killed 144 people at a Moscow music venue in March. Sanghin condemned the attack but described the abuse of the suspects as “public torture.” “I am a systemic victim of cyberattacks and cyberbullying. Sometimes I have to block thousands of bots a week and sometimes daily... They follow, mass unfollow and report my profile,” Sanghin said on Instagram in May. “Instagram’s algorithm then thinks that I am breaking community rules and doesn’t show my posts to most of my followers. (Sometimes it can last for months).” Sanghin asked followers on the social media platform to leave a comment or just a heart emoji as a possible way to help her “get out of this ‘shadow ban.’”

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Russia Deports Thousands of Tajik Citizens

During a press conference, director of the Civil Aviation Agency, Habibullo Nazarzoda, announced that over the past six months, Russia expelled or deported some 3,400 Tajikistan citizens. Nazarzoda emphasized that the action was spurred by errors in the Tajik citizens' documents as opposed to being politically motivated and stated, “The reason for denied entry into Russian territory was sometimes a lack of necessary documents. 95% of people who travel to the country know where they are going and why they are going, but cannot answer questions when asked. Many become confused. That’s why it’s not political.” Conditions for migrants heading for Russia and for those already in the country, have become stricter following the recent terrorist attack at Moscow's Crocus City Hall and the suspected involvement of Tajik citizens. Complaints about difficulties in entering the country are increasing and dozens of migrants report being detained at Russian airports and land border crossings under various pretexts. Since neither the Tajik nor Russian sides have commented on the situation, the official reasons for the above remain unclear.

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ADB to Support Climate-Friendly Business Environment in Tajikistan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) says it has approved a $50 million policy-based grant for a program that will help the government of Tajikistan foster a climate-responsive business environment and support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country. The program aims to transform Tajikistan's business environment through digitization, reforms to increase exports, improvement of infrastructure governance, fiscal transparency, and support for climate-friendly SMEs. Underscoring ADB's commitment to supporting Tajikistan in its transition to a green economy, ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov commented, “By promoting climate-responsive investments and improving the overall business environment, we aim to stimulate economic growth, create green jobs, and enhance the country's resilience to climate change." The program will support reforms subsidizing climate-friendly SMEs, and prioritizing funding for female entrepreneurs. It advances digitization and e-commerce through the Agency for Innovation and Digitization and the approval of the E-Commerce program. The program will also support enhanced public investment management through assessments to recommend improvements and prioritize climate-focused projects. Fiscal transparency will improve the Ministry of Finance’s capacity to publish government finance statistics. The program will also promote international trade and investment by streamlining trade documentation processes and updating regulatory frameworks for issuing local and green bonds.

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Tajikistan Launches Export of Mineral Fertilizers to Afghanistan

Tajikistan has begun to export mineral fertilizers to Afghanistan. It has recently delivered 626 tons of fertilizer produced at the Azot plant in the Khatlon region, valued at $169,000. According to information issued by the regional customs department, 13,700 tons of agricultural products were exported through the Khatlon checkpoint at the beginning of July, including 8.7 tons of onions, 438 tons of melons, 2.7 tons of fruit and grapes, and 120 tons of other products. In addition, 13,200 tons of onions were exported through customs checkpoints in the Sughd region, bringing the total volume of agricultural products exported by the Khatlon region to 27,100 tons. The value of imported goods to the Khatlon region amounted to $107.6 million. Such a significant growth in trade relations with Afghanistan points to closening relations between Tajikistan and its neighbor.

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Saudi Islamic Development Bank Increasing Its Presence in Central Asia

The Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has been particularly active in Central Asia so far in 2024. The growing IDB role is part of Central Asian region’s foreign policy shift toward the Arab world as financial backers to replace Russia, which is devoting huge attention and resources to its war in Ukraine, and China, which is increasingly reluctant to spend large sums of money in Central Asia after pouring in tens of billions of dollars there during the last 25 years. Some of the Central Asian governments owe China substantial amounts of money that they are unlikely to be able to pay for possibly decades. The Central Asian states have been members of the IDB for many years. Kyrgyzstan was first, joining in 1993, followed by Turkmenistan in 1994, Kazakhstan in 1995, Tajikistan in 1996, and Uzbekistan in 2003. One of the IDB’s three regional offices is in Almaty, Kazakhstan (the other two are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Rabat, Morocco). The IDB has been dealing individually with the five Central Asian countries on a wide range of projects and programs in recent months. Energy Resources In February, Tajik Minister of Economic Development and Trade Zavqi Zavqizoda announced a deal was reached for the IDB to provide $250 million to Tajikistan. Zavqizoda said $150 million of that would go toward construction of the Rogun hydropower plant (HPP). The Rogun HPP was a Soviet-era project. Construction started in 1976 but was discontinued shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed. Tajikistan restarted work on the HPP in 2008. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has repeatedly said that building the HPP with a planned 3600 MW capacity will make the country energy independent and even allow Tajikistan to bring in extra revenue exporting electricity to neighboring countries. In its 28 years as an IDB member, Tajikistan had received some $620 million from the IDB, so the $250 million announced in February 2024 represents a significant jump in IDB financial help. Not surprisingly, when IDB President Muhammad Al-Jasser visited Kyrgyzstan in June, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov sought IDB investment in the Kambar-Ata-1 HPP, another decades-old project with a multi-billion-dollar price tag that has barely made any progress in being realized during the 33 years Kyrgyzstan has been independent. Al-Jasser did not commit to IDB financing for the Kyrgyz HPP. However, less than a week after Al-Jasser was in Kyrgyzstan, the IDB was one of several international financial organizations that signed on at a conference in Vienna to be a members of a coordination donors’ committee for the Kambar-Ata-1 projects. At a meeting in Istanbul in February, the IDB reaffirmed its support for the Central Asia-South Asia-1000 (CASA-1000) project that aims to export electricity from HPPs in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kyrgyz Energy Minister Taalaybek Ibrayev met with Al-Jasser in June during the latter’s visit to Kyrgyzstan to discuss funding for Kyrgyzstan’s section of CASA-1000. Not Only Energy In June, the IDB pledged up to $2 billion in funding for improvements to water management...

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