It’s been a while since the last entry, so here is an update about what has been going on in Tajikistan in the last week or so.

Uzbekistan has jacked up gas prices for Tajikistan:

As of 1 January, Uzbekistan is charging Tajikistan $55 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, compared to $42 last year. Tajikistan imports 95 percent of its gas from its neighbor.

According to numerous reports, Iran has been strengthening its ties with Tajikistan, and the possibility of increased Iranian investment has been raised.

Rakhmonov called on Iran to expedite the projects currently underway in his country and its participation in more economic projects.

The Iranian president also invited Tajikistan to attend a summit of Farsi-speaking countries on January 16.

The presidents of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, whose nations share Farsi as their common language, will meet in Tehran on January 16, a source in the Iranian president’s office said Wednesday.

Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hamid Karzai from Iran’s eastern neighbour Afghanistan and Tajikistan’s Emomali Rakhmonov will focus on “boosting and elevating trilateral ties” and “inaugurate the road link between the three nations,” the source said.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has been making progress in Tajikistan. In a recent interview, Murotboki Beknazarov said:

We have opened facilities and equipped them with furniture and medical equipment for labour migrants and their family members in 30 districts of Sogd province (in the north of the country, over 350 km from the capital, Dushanbe), Khatlon province (in the south of the country, over 200 km from Dushanbe), Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province (in the east, over 350 km from Dushanbe), as well as in areas under the national jurisdiction (in the centre).

Tajik border guards were recently equipped with US technology and gear.

Tajik border guards received $750,000 worth of equipment Friday from the United States under the Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance (EXBS) program, the Tajik border protection committee said.

“The equipment includes computer systems, night vision devices, radiation control devices, generators, radio frequency scanners and winter gear,” the committee said.
This was the first part of the $1.2-million aid package granted to Tajikistan’s border guards under the program. The second part of the package will include winter and summer uniforms and will be delivered in early spring.