The project -- Networking Intermediaries & Competitive Enterprises in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan” (NICE-TAK) -- started in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on May 19 in the ranks of the European Union program Central Asia Invest IV, according to the European Delegation to Tajikistan.

This project is reportedly the continuation of the projects “Handicraft and Business through Regional Integration and Fair Trade Market” and “Tajik Women Economic Empowerment” that have been successfully implemented in the previous years.

NICE-TAK overall objective is to promote private sector development in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and to facilitate the GDP of the two countries to substantially increase from 2016 to 2019.

NICE-TAK will pursue this aim by means of assisting local Business Intermediary Organizations to develop their capacities of supporting the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in three key areas: advocacy, developing needed services for SMEs and competitiveness on domestic and international markets.  NICE-TAK targets any Business Intermediary Organization in the two countries that have a high potential for reaching out to SMEs, but a special attention is focused on competitiveness of the Handicraft sector.

NICE-TAK project is implemented by an international consortium including International NGO CESVI (Italy) in Tajikistan, National Association of Small and Medium Business of Tajikistan (NASMB), Bishkek Business Club (BBC), National Association of Business Women of Tajikistan (NABWT), Union of Craftsmen of Tajikistan (UCT); the consortium is led by Sequa GgmbH (Germany).