February 5, 2013. Secretariat of the Consultative Council on Improvement of Investment Climate under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan conducted a round table on «Consultative Council on Improvement of Investment Climate under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan – an instrument to facilitate open dialogue between the public and private sectors».

Representatives of the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, State Committee on Investment and State Property Management, private sector as well as development partners participated in the round table.

Mr Zavqidjon Zavqiev - Head of Secretariat of the Council opened the round table and pointed out that the goal of the round table is to provide brief information on key achievements of the Investment Council in 2012 and on main priorities of the Council for 2013 as well as exchange of views among partners.

Then speech of Mr Zavqidjon Zavqiev- Head of Secretariat of the Council on the Council’s activity in 2012 was heard. It was mentioned that last year the Council conducted its two meetings under the leadership of the Chairman of the Council, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency, Emomali Rahmon, where a number of important issues related to improvement of investment climate and business environment were discussed.

The visible achievements of the Investment Council include the reforms in areas of establishment of legal and economic foundation for development of public private partnership, reform of taxation system, simplification of administrative procedures for investors, simplifying the procedures of inspections of entrepreneurship activities, Removing administrative obstacles to entrepreneurship, which function with licenses, and improvement of investment climate in the tourism sector.

During the reporting period within the Council’s activity, the Law of Tajikistan “On Public Private Partnership”, Tax Code of the Republic of Tajikistan in new edition and other legal and regulatory documents were adopted and the draft Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On Inspection of Activities of Entrepreneurs” was developed.

Also, to follow up the initiatives of the Investment Council, Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On Investment Agreements” and State Policy Concept on Encouragement and Protection of Investment were adopted and Tajikistan ratified the United National’s Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (in other words New York Convention).

It is worthwhile pointing out that the international community recognized the results of implemented reforms and according to the World Bank’s “Doing Business” Report last year Tajikistan’s ranking improved to 6 positions.

The Consultative Council on Improvement of Investment Climate under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan established a favorable framework for establishment and improvement of public private partnership at regional level, as a result of which currently Consultative Councils on Improvement of Investment Climate under Chairmen of GBAO, Soughd and Khatlon provinces and Farkhor district have been operating successfully. By the instruction of the Council’s Chairman, the President of the country, establishment of similar councils under Dushanbe Mayor and in Rasht Valley is under the process.

The Investment Council’s Secretariat, in close cooperation with private sector’s representatives and development partners, identifies priority areas for reform on a regular basis, analyzes each issue proposed by the private sector and submits the results for consideration to the Investment Council.

At the end of his speech, Mr Zavqidjon Zavqiev- Head of Secretariat of the Council emphasized that based on the private sector’s proposals issues like strengthening public private dialogue, improving investment climate in the insurance sphere, establishing sovereign credit rating of the country, promoting the accession of Tajikistan to Hague Convention (or Apostille Convention of 1961) on recognition of documents in countries that ratified the Convention and continuing the reform in the system of permits and licenses are identified as key priorities of the Investment Council for 2013.

Then Mr Ulf Hindstrom - Resident Representative of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Tajikistan on behalf of development partners, and Mr Izatullo Lalbekov - Head of Banks Association of Tajikistan on behalf of private sector delivered speeches, which highly acknowledged the useful activity of the Council for the last year and gave useful recommendations.

At the end of the round table, participants had useful discussion and provided their proposals to further improve the investment climate in the country.