Window to Tajikistan: Khimgrad preparing industrial park for Russian industry
Delegation of Tatarstan is paying a return visit to Dushanbe at the end of May
“Large corporations are able to effectively implement international projects, and small and medium-sized businesses cannot independently open production facilities outside Russia," the head of Khimgrad, Airat Gizzatullin, explained the idea of creating an industrial park during the panel session “Industrial Dialogue Russia — Tajikistan”. The current five-year plan in Tajikistan is under the banner of industrialisation of the economy, and local authorities rely on fraternal Tatarstan. KAMAZ is going to build a service centre, Tatneft is building a network of gas stations, and power engineers have already provided several schools with diesel generators. Rustam Minnikhanov is expected to pay a return visit to Dushanbe at the end of May.
Russian businesses returning to Tajikistan
Russia remains Tajikistan's main foreign trade partner, providing about a quarter of all imports to the country, and 67 regions of Russia now have trade relations with the republic. This means that economic ties with this country have been preserved, although in the last 6 years financial settlements through Russian payment instruments have been greatly hampered. How Russian businesses are going to return to this Muslim country and what is expected of it in the eastern land of Tajikistan was discussed at the panel session “Industrial Dialogue Russia — Tajikistan” organised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
The role of moderator of the meeting was assumed by the trade representative of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Tajikistan, Evgeny Korenkov. It is no exaggeration to say that he knew more about the economy of Tajikistan than anyone else, and the rest had to repeat what he had said half an hour earlier. Apparently, there was too little information available to a wide audience.
The trade representative said that the foreign trade turnover of Russia and Tajikistan had risen to $1.7 billion by the end of 2023 and continued to grow in the first quarter. This is due to the beginning of industrialisation. “The years 2022-2026 have been declared the years of industrial development in Tajikistan. The task is to accelerate industrialisation and increase industrial production by 3.5 times," Yevgeny Korenkov said. Rosatom Group operates in Tajikistan, and the construction of hydroelectric power plants is nearing completion. According to him, Tatarstan is among the top 10 regions that provide 70% of turnover with Tajikistan. Large industrial businesses have been working closely with this country since last summer, after President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon visited Kazan.
Tajikistan is open for financing
Deputy Minister of Industry, Science and Technology of Tajikistan Nazar Aziz Savzali joined the dialogue via video conferencing. He pleased with that the country has recently adopted an investment law that gives preferences to investors and ensures the protection of rights. He assured that the authorities are ready to provide all possible support, as they are interested in localising the Russian industry.
“Tajikistan has been closed for financing from Russia for more than 6 years, but at the end of last year the issue was resolved," said the representative of the Russian Export Centre in Tajikistan.
According to him, there is now an opportunity to open a credit line in “this difficult region”. Despite the financial blockade, the REC group did not stop working in this country, providing consulting assistance: “There were times when we could not fully use all the mechanisms, but now everything is fine. Nevertheless, we helped organise the business exhibition," he said. As a result, 76 unique Russian exporters were supported. But the scale of exports is still small. Contracts worth $12 million have been signed. “Yes, the figures are not yet huge, not cosmic, but we will be able to do even more, the prospect is great," the representative of the REC is sure.
However, Tatarstan businesses are not afraid of difficulties. According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan German Lernen, KAMAZ operates in the republic, Tatneft is building a network of filling stations, the medical company Eidos opened a centre at a medical university in September last year, the Energorazvitie company equipped several schools with diesel generators.
The trade turnover is still small — 37 million dollars. “A small figure, it does not reveal our potential," he admitted. About a thousand students of this country study in our republic, and more than 15 thousand Tatars live in Tajikistan.
Businesses are used to a certain standard
But the main project is related to the creation of a technology park in Tajikistan. Khimgrad is preparing it jointly with the Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology of Tajikistan following the agreements between Rustam Minnikhanov and President Emomali Rahmon. “Large corporations are able to effectively implement international projects, and small and medium-sized businesses cannot independently open production facilities outside the Russian Federation," explained the head of Khimgrad, Airat Gizzatullin.
According to him, the technopark will implement three premises — access to export markets, localisation of Russian technologies, and solving the problem of labour. Here they count on the positive experience of the Chirchik Technopark in Uzbekistan. "30 percent of the products in Chirchik were exported. It's a working mechanism. We have found a warm response from the authorities," the speaker said.
Now he considers it necessary to choose a good location from the point of view of logistics, build a reliable engineering infrastructure and provide good service. “Russian business is used to a certain standard, which means that the management company must create it," he concluded.