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KABUL (TCA) — Afghan government forces have pushed back the Taliban from Farah city, the capital of the western Farah Province, close to the Iranian border, RFE/RL reports.
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BISHKEK (TCA) — The U.S. Embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic has organized a series of seminars on aviation modeling from May 15-22 in the cities of Bishkek, Kant, Osh, and Jalal-Abad. A coach from the United States, Eno Umoh, conducts these seminars to help skills for inventing among young people. Entrance to all events is free, the U.S. Embassy said.
TCA
DUSHANBE (TCA) — Belarus has invited Tajikistan and other countries of the Central Asia region to develop cooperation in agriculture and industry, Belarus’ Agriculture and Food Minister, co-chair of the Belarus-Tajikistan intergovernmental commission Leonid Zayats said at a joint business forum in Dushanbe on 15 May, BelTA news agency reported.
The business forum took place as part of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s visit to Tajikistan.
Zayats suggested developing cooperation in the agro-industrial complex, setting up joint food enterprises. “I suggest discussing further cooperation. We have great opportunities in the dairy sector. We are ready to set up joint ventures to process Belarusian milk using Belarusian technologies in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan,” he said.
Belarus is also ready to consider setting up joint companies to process beef, poultry meat and advance to third countries under one brand. “We are also ready to provide assistance in the construction of dairy farms fitted with necessary technical equipment of the Belarusian production, in the delivery of pedigree livestock and in sharing technology to reach the designed capacity,” said Zayats.
Belarus is ready to work with Tajikistan in all areas, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said after his talks with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon on May 15.
Lukashenko said that during the talks the parties noted the good prospects for increasing cooperation in industry and agriculture. The Belarusian leader said that his country’s trade with Tajikistan more than doubled last year and continues to expand. Belarus’ exports to Tajikistan include tractors, special-purpose vehicles, and food products.
Lukashenko thanked Tajik President Rahmon for the organization of the second international business forum Belarus-Tajikistan-Afghanistan and the National Exhibition of Belarus in Dushanbe. He also welcomed business representatives from other countries of the region. “It would be great to see this business forum serve as a basis for the development of robust trade and economic relations with Tajikistan and other countries of the region,” the Belarusian leader said.
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ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakh Invest national company for investment support and promotion presented Kazakhstan’s investment opportunities during meetings with the leadership of more than 20 major Italian companies and government agencies in Italy. Italian companies expressed interest in implementing joint projects in the areas of agribusiness, energy and recycling of solid domestic waste, Kazakh Invest reported on May 15.
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ASTANA (TCA) — During the recent investment week of Kazakhstan in Turkey, the Kazakh delegation headed by the Vice Minister for Investments and Development, Arystan Kabikenov, held more than 30 meetings with the largest Turkish holdings, Kazakh Invest national company for investment support and promotion reported on May 15.
EurasiaNet
DUSHANBE (TCA) — Saudi Arabia’s interest in Tajikistan’s banking sector is largely caused by the intention to squeeze out Iran from the Central Asian country. We are republishing this article on the issue, originally published by Eurasianet:
An investment fund from Saudi Arabia has agreed to buy a controlling stake in a troubled bank in Tajikistan, throwing a lifeline to the country’s wrecked banking system.
Tojiksodirotbank announced on its official website on May 14 that the deal for Saudi Investment Group to acquire a 51 percent stake in the Dushanbe-based lender has been agreed in principle. It is unclear when the acquisition will formally occur and on what terms.
Saudi Investment Group chairman Al Waleed Al Dahash Al Tuwaijri met with several senior Tajik financial officials during his visit to Tajikistan on May 11.
Saudi investment in such a crucial area of Tajikistan’s troubled economy may have motivations going beyond business, however. Riyadh has been unabashed about its goal of squeezing all traces of Iran’s influence out of Tajikistan, which has enjoyed relations with Tehran that have varied from cordial to chilly.
A white knight for Tojiksodirotbank would arrive not a moment too soon. The bank ran into serious liquidity issues in 2015 after years of building a dismal loan portfolio. In January, the Finance Ministry bought an 85.9 percent stake — an operation it paid for by issuing bonds and selling them to another branch of the government, the National Bank. Officials at the National Bank staunchly rejected suggestions they were in effect printing cash to buy up distressed assets, although the opaque nature of decision-making in Tajikistan makes it difficult to know how much credence to lend such denials.
Also, while the bond sale operation is presumed to have enabled Tojiksodirotbank to begin paying off its depositors in government structures — as required by law — many regular savers have yet to see their money.
As of the start of 2018, according to the National Bank, Tojiksodirotbank still owes customers $102 million.
Earlier attempts to get foreigners to bail out Tojiksodirotbank and other troubled banks have been unsuccessful. In 2016, the bank entered into talks with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to sell a controlling stake for $80 million. Tajikistan has also been lobbying the International Monetary Fund for hundreds of millions in banking sector stabilization funds. Neither effort has yet yielded any results.
Saudi Arabia has sniffed around Tajikistan before, but its financial commitments have to date extended primarily to giveaways like money for building schools.
The geopolitical component of Riyadh’s commitment to an economically unpromising nation is hardly a secret. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Tajikistan in September spoke in an interview of his satisfaction at successfully pursuing diplomatic overtures that culminated with the “expulsion of Iran and its agents from the country.”
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon signaled on May 12, at a public event coinciding with an investment forum of Arab nations taking place in Dushanbe, that he is onboard with this general plan. At one stage, he engaged in a rant about an opposition militant from the civil war of the 1990s that he said had been receiving money from a mysterious foreign power.
“His pockets were filled with dollars from that country, which called itself our so-called friend,” Rahmon reportedly said. “He himself admitted that he accepted the Shiite faith and carried out the orders of the security services of that country against the Tajik nation.”
He did not name Iran, although the allusion was fairly obvious.
For safe measure, he also claimed that the now-banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan had also converted to Shia Islam — an exotic allegation that lies somewhat at odds with prior attempts to imply affinities between the party and radical Sunni Islamic groups like Islamic State.
