DUSHANBE, April 20, Asia-Plus -- 15,122 western and Japanese type vehicles have been delivered to Tajikistan over the first three months of the year, Nouriddin Mahmadov, deputy head of Tajikistan’s Customs Service, remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on April 19.

According to him, only 1,478 of them have been delivered by physical entities for personal use while others have been delivered to the country for business and commercial activity.  

In the meantime, according to Tajik traffic police, at present there are more than 153,000 vehicles in Tajikistan.    

Asked about customs clearance of vehicles, the customs official said that customs duty varies according to vehicle design and value, and it depends on the vehicle’s engine capacity and the year of production. 

“For example, customs clearance of Nissan Maxima produced in 2006 and with engine capacity of 3,000 cubic centimeters (cc) comes to 600 US dollars ($0.20 per 1 cc),” said Mahmadov, “While customs clearance of vehicles produced before 2002 (five years before the customs clearance) will cost much more, at the rate of $1.00 per each cc of the engine capacity.”   

Speaking to journalists, the Customs Service first deputy head Nemat Rahmatov noted that over the report period the country’s budget has received some 240 million somonis from collection of customs duties, which is 108.2 million more than in the same period of 2006.  

According to him, Tajikistan’s external trade turnover in the first quarter of 2007 has amounted to $914.7 million. This consisted of Tajikistan’s exports estimated at $358.5 million and Tajikistan’s imports worth S$556.2 million.    

In January-March 2007, Tajikistan has had trade relations with 75 countries.