Round table on Presentation of the draft "Mid-Term Development Programme of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2021-2025"

On March 18, 2021, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Tajikistan held a round table on presentation of the draft «Mid-Term Development Programme of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2021-2025» with the participation of representatives of ministries, departments, development partners, sectoral experts and civil society.

 

  Opening the round table Zavqizoda Zavqi Amin, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, noted that the draft «Mid-Term Development Programme of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2021-2025» was developed in accordance with the implementation of assignments and instructions, derived from the Message of the Founder of Peace and National Unity – Leader of the  Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon to Majlisi Oli, taking into account the views and proposals of the parties concerned. In this regard, the draft of the Programme considers the full utilization of existing resources and capacities, additional sources of the development of national economic sectors and the adoption of 765 necessary measures to achieve the country’s strategic goals and priorities.

   It was noted that during the period of implementation of the Medium-term Development Programme of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2016-2020, a number of significant reforms had been carried out in various sectors of the economy. In particular, registration, licensing and inspection procedures were simplified and a public-private partnership mechanism was established. The Republic of Tajikistan became a full member of the World Trade Organization and joined multilateral international trading system. For the first time in the period of independence, the country was awarded the sovereign credit rating by the international rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service at the level of «B, stable growth». The reform of the company “Barqi tojik” began, per capita financing in the education and health sectors was introduced.

  It was stressed that as a result of the measures taken in 2016 - 2020, despite the impact of the global economic and social crises, trade disputes and economic sanctions on the country’s main trading partners, the Republic of Tajikistan achieved a number of achievements. In particular, average annual GDP growth of at least 7 per cent was achieved and GDP grew by 1.6. The poverty rate has been reduced from 31.3 per cent to 26.3 per cent, and the World Bank estimates that Tajikistan is among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of the rate of poverty reduction. The monetary income of the population has increased by a 1.9, the number of entrepreneurs has increased by 1.6. The share of exports in external trade increased from 20 to 26 per cent, while the share of imports declined from 80 to 74 percent. The position of the Republic of Tajikistan in the report of the World Bank «Business Management» improved by 59 points and according to the rating of countries on the quality of road infrastructure of the World Economic Forum by 32 points.

It was presented that the total cost of the Mid-Term Development Programme of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2021-2025 amounts to 115.3 billion somoni, of which 51.3 billion somoni (44.5 percent) is provided from the budget, 35.1 billion somoni ( 30.5 percent) from the development partners and 28.9 billion somoni (25 percent) from private sector. 

Representatives of development partners, including UNDP Resident Representatives Ms. Pratibha Mehta, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Mr. Muneo Takasaka, as well as others exchanged views and proposals regarding the draft MTDP 2021-2025 and expressed their readiness to contribute to the financing of the draft of this Program.

   In the next stage, the draft Mid- Term Development Programme for 2021-2025 will be submitted to the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan for approval.