Iran to boost trade and investment with Tajikistan; Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan seeks governmental assurances; Gazprom prospects in Uzbekistan for hydrocarbons; Croatian government abolishes visa requirements for Kazakhs;
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    • According to reports, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi visited Tajikistan to ramp up trade and investment between both countries. Both sides discussed the ongoing Iranian investment in large scale construction projects such as the Sangtuda-2 hydropower plant; regional developments and on the subject of Iran’s disputed nuclear program. 1 Tajik Foreign Minister Khamrokhon Zarifi said that his country does not support sanctions, particularly economic ones on Iran as it will not resolve the quarrel over its nuclear program. 2 It would be worth noting that Iran is Tajikistan’s third largest trade partner after Russia and China. Two-way trade has grown over the last decade to around $215 million in 2011, according to official statistics out of Dushanbe. 3

    In the meanwhile, the Islamic Revival Party (IRP), Tajikistan's leading opposition group, last week adopted a statement petitioning the state authorities to ensure its legal protections and prevent defamation against the party. 4 The call was in response to a media article alleging that President Emomali Rahmon ordered security services to increase surveillance of IRP members and local religious groups. 5

    Reports noted that Gazprom International, the Russian oil and gas giant’s foreign unit, has begun testing a second exploration borehole in Uzbekistan—the Kumoy prospect on the Ustyurt plateau at the Aral Sea in the northwest part of the country. 6

    According to reports, the Croatian government has suspended visa requirements for Kazakhs, apart from citizens of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine, to visit Croatia between April 1 and October 31 this year. However no clear reason is given as to why those four countries no longer need visas to enter Croatia. 7 In the meanwhile, Malaysian oil and gas firm Sumatec Resources signed a three-way deal by partnering with independent Kazakh firm CaspiOilGas (COG) and Malaysian company Markmore Energy (Labuan) to develop the Rakushechnoye oilfield and gas deposit located in Western Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea shores. 8

    In other developments, according to reports, Kyrgyzstan will not provide China with natural resources in return for China’s construction of a railway linking the East Asian giant to Uzbekistan via Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan’s deputy transportation minister said recently. 9 The Kyrgyz government is weighing the option of joining an international aid program which would allow it to halve its foreign debt in exchange for aid to Afghanistan, that is, it could write off 50 percent of its foreign debt which is around $1 billion. 10

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