28 April 2010
The fifth Meeting of the Consultative Council under the President of Republic of Tajikistan took place on April 28, 2010, chaired by the President of the country, Mr. Emomaly Rakhmon. The meeting was attended by Mr. Akil Akilov — the Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan, Mr. Matlubhon Davlatov — the Head of the Executive Office of the President, Mr. Davlataly Saidov — the Chairman of State Committee on Investments and State Property Management of the Republic of Tajikistan — the Executive Secretary of the Council (further referred to as State Committee On Investment And State Property Management of RT), Mr. Zafar Khotamov – the Head of the Secretariat of the Council, Mr. Farukh Hamraliev — Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Mr. Safarali Najmuddinov — Minister of Finance, Mr. Sharif Rahimzoda — Chairman of National Bank of Tajikistan, Mr. Olim Boboev — Minister of Transport and Communication, Mr. Mahmadali Zokirov – Chairman of State Geodesy and Land Reclamation, Mr. A. Komilov Chairman of Agency for Construction and Architecture under the Government of Tajikistan, Mr. Nematjon Buriev — Senior Economic Adviser to the President of RT, Mr. Dustmurod Murodov — Head of Legal Division of Executive Office of the President of RT, Mr. Khamdam Tagoimurodov — Head of Economic Reforms and Investments Division, Mr. Abdufattoh Sharifzoda — Head of Media-Services of The President of RT, Mr. Sh. Rahmatboev — Deputy Head of State Committee On Investment And State Property Management, and Mr. Rustami Emomali — Head of Department for Support of Private Sector of State Committee On Investment And State Property Management and also private sector and international organizations representatives.The first item of the agenda discussed in the meeting was consideration of the Operational Regulation of the Consultative Council on Improvement of the Investment Climate under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan. With this regard, Emomali Rahmon, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Head of the Council, pointed out that adoption of the Operational Regulation would help ensure efficiency of the activity of the Council, and instructed the Executive Secretary and the Council Secretariat to run the activity of the Council in accordance with the Regulation with a view to ensuring constructive cooperation with state agencies and businesses, and to undertake necessary measures to involve a broad range of the private sector representatives into the Council’s activity.The main theme of the 5th meeting was discussion of the draft Plan of Further Measures of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan for improvement of the investment climate and indicators of the Republic of Tajikistan in international rating and mechanism of its implementation, which was developed jointly by State Committee On Investment And State Property Management and Secretariat of Consultative Council on Improvement of Investment Climate under the President of Republic of Tajikistan with support of number of donor projects. The Plan was prepared at the instruction of the President of RT — Emomali Rakhmon that was given during the 4th Council Meeting, where President instructed to prepare a plan for further reforms to improve the business climate in the country. According to the preliminary projections, if the plan is implemented successfully, Tajikistan may improve its scores in five Doing Business Indicators, such as “Trading Across Borders”, “Getting Credit”, “Paying Taxes”, “Dealing with Construction Permits” and “Starting a Business”. Moreover, the plan envisages optimization of leasing procedures and development of short-term strategy for support of domestic producers that is expected to further improve business environment. It was informed that in one of the meetings of the Coordination Council of Business Associations of Tajikistan the participation of a broad range of the private sector representatives in implementation of the Plan was discussed.Furthermore the representatives of the private sector made recommendations in the following areas during their speeches:
• Improving effectiveness of the leasing operations and long term sources for budget revenues as a result of import of technology through leasing. At the current stage during the import of technology and equipment through bank loan the equipment is exempted from VAT, while VAT is charged for the import of equipment under leasing. This situation creates barriers for the development of long-term leasing loans and import of modern equipment via leasing and establishment of production facilities.
• Support of domestic producers. It was suggested to include representatives from the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, including specialists from the Legal Department, Economic Reforms and Investment Department, Finance Department and Industry and Energy Unit into the Permanent Commission for support of local producers under the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Tajikistan with a view to ensuring efficiency of the operation of the above-mentioned Commission and agreeing draft legal and regulatory documents developed by this Commission with relevant government agencies in a timely manner.
• To arrange retraining courses for entrepreneurs, including entrepreneur surveyed by the World Bank.
• To develop and implement short-term and medium-term plans for the development of the domestic production reflecting specific reform measures without causing damage to the country’s economy.
• To exempt import of modern technology via leasing from VAT. The third point of the agenda was to approve the draft agenda of the Consultative Council’s sixth meeting. On this point, Mr Davlatali Saidov, the Council Executive Secretary, made a report, where he pointed out that since the President of the Republic of Tajikistan announced 2010 as the “Year of Education and Technology”, it would be reasonable to discuss the issue of “Introduction of modern information and communications technology for the development of electronic trade”, and importance and advantages of electronic governance at the next meeting of the Council.The Council’s Executive Secretary asked the Council Chairman to promote establishment of a working group for development of materials for the sixth meeting of the Consultative Council out of representatives from relevant ministries and agencies and the private sector with the support of donor organizations taking into account the above-mentioned points.
• Improving effectiveness of the leasing operations and long term sources for budget revenues as a result of import of technology through leasing. At the current stage during the import of technology and equipment through bank loan the equipment is exempted from VAT, while VAT is charged for the import of equipment under leasing. This situation creates barriers for the development of long-term leasing loans and import of modern equipment via leasing and establishment of production facilities.
• Support of domestic producers. It was suggested to include representatives from the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, including specialists from the Legal Department, Economic Reforms and Investment Department, Finance Department and Industry and Energy Unit into the Permanent Commission for support of local producers under the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Tajikistan with a view to ensuring efficiency of the operation of the above-mentioned Commission and agreeing draft legal and regulatory documents developed by this Commission with relevant government agencies in a timely manner.
• To arrange retraining courses for entrepreneurs, including entrepreneur surveyed by the World Bank.
• To develop and implement short-term and medium-term plans for the development of the domestic production reflecting specific reform measures without causing damage to the country’s economy.
• To exempt import of modern technology via leasing from VAT. The third point of the agenda was to approve the draft agenda of the Consultative Council’s sixth meeting. On this point, Mr Davlatali Saidov, the Council Executive Secretary, made a report, where he pointed out that since the President of the Republic of Tajikistan announced 2010 as the “Year of Education and Technology”, it would be reasonable to discuss the issue of “Introduction of modern information and communications technology for the development of electronic trade”, and importance and advantages of electronic governance at the next meeting of the Council.The Council’s Executive Secretary asked the Council Chairman to promote establishment of a working group for development of materials for the sixth meeting of the Consultative Council out of representatives from relevant ministries and agencies and the private sector with the support of donor organizations taking into account the above-mentioned points.
