DUSHANBE, September 22, 2011, Asia-Plus -- A ceremony of introduction of glycyrrhizic acid concentrate manufacturing plant into operation is taking place in Khatlon’s Qubodiyon district today morning.  President Emomali Rahmon will attend the ceremony of opening of the Avvalin plant.  The enterprise will manufacture glycyrrhizic acid and all its product will be exported to other countries.

The new plant is located on an area of 3.5 hectares, some 50 kilometers of the administrative center of Qubodiyon district, Khatlon province.  The plant is named Avvalin (The First) specifically, because it is really the first enterprise of this kind not only in Tajikistan but in the whole world.

Closed joint-stock company (CJSC) Avvalin is the first and today the only Tajik-Japanese joint venture.  Cockey Co., Ltd, which is one of world’s producers of medicines and other products from licorice roots, participates in the project on behalf of the Japanese side.

Using high tech equipment which has no analogues in the world, the plant will produce the glycyrrhizic acid concentrate.  

Those who used alternative medicine treatments even once are aware of wonderful properties of the licorice roots.  In traditional Tibetan medicine, the licorice root is used in 98 percent of all herbaceous collections.

In the meantime, few people know that licorice grows practically in all the territory of Tajikistan.  In Khatlon province alone, there are more than 10,000 hectares, where this unique medicinal plant grows.

Today, the glycyrrhizic acid concentrate is the main component for preparations intended for treatment of liver diseases, including all types of hepatitis.

Preparations manufactured by Cockey Co., Ltd on the basis of the glycyrrhizic acid concentrate have already saved 2 million lives.  Besides, licorice has remarkable rejuvenating effects; the glycyrrhizic acid is also used  in cosmetics.

The glycyrrhizic acid concentrate is also used in defense and oil-refining industries. 

For the first time, Japanese investors showed interest in licorice growing in Tajikistan in 2008 and ordered a survey.  Based on the survey findings, they decided to build a plant in Tajikistan.  The first negotiations were conducted with participation of ex-Minister of Economic Development and Trade Ghulomjon Bobozoda.

In 2010, the Government of Tajikistan and Cockey Co., Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on lunching a Tajik-Japanese joint venture.   Tajikistan owns 51 percent of the shares and the Japanese concern assumes the 49% ownership interest in this enterprise.

- Construction of the plant commenced straight after singing of the memorandum.  They suggested that the plant should be constructed in the urbanized zone, but we decided to construct it  on an abandoned area.  This area has always lain fallow; there are sands there, and therefore, this area is unfit for crop cultivation.  Parcels in this area were imposed on farmers as an addition to other parcels and they had to pay tax on this land, while it has never brought profit, the CJSC Avvalin director general Munis Karimzoda said.

To-date, power transmission line and water supply pipeline have been laid to the enterprise and the company’s office is connected to the high-speed Internet.

The enterprise with annual capacity of processing 3,000 tons of dried licorice roots per year has created 50 new jobs.  Five persons have already taken training courses in Japan, while the others are being trained by Japanese specialists who have arrived in Tajikistan. 

- Besides, 150 other people are seasonal workers that will be hired for gathering licorice roots, Karimzoda noted.

7,000-8,000 tons of raw licorice roots are needed per year to ensure regular work of the enterprise.  From this volume, the output of the primary finished product (the glycyrrhizic acid concentrate) is some 300 tons.    

The licorice root gathering is a licensed activity and export of it per se is prohibited.  Every year, the government defines quotas on gathering licorice roots.  Last year, the quota on gathering licorice roots granted to Avvalin under the singed MoU amounted to 500 tons of dried licorice roots.  This year, the quotas will be defined in late September.

According to the Avvalin top manager, a special pond has been built within the compound of the plant for collection of waste products of the enterprise that will be used for fertilizing fields, in which licorice is planted.      

- It means that production of the glycyrrhizic acid concentrate is practically a wasteless industry.  In the future, we plan to sell fertilizer surplus to the population.  Another unique property of this plant is that the more you gather its root the faster licorice grows, Karimzoda said.

Today, an official ceremony of opening of the enterprise is taking place and the ceremony is being attended by President Emomali Rahmon and Mr. Hiroshi Yoshida, President of Cockey Co., Ltd.

The enterprise is expected to manufacture its first product that will be exported with inscription “Made in Tajikistan” in several weeks.  This inscription will be on all other commodities manufactured from the raw materials of the Avvalin company.

- What we will manufacture now is the primary product.  In the future, we intend to construct one more enterprise for manufacturing the secondary product.  Our Japanese partners are ready to make additional investments because they understood that it is possible to do a good business in Tajikistan, the Avvalin director manager concluded.