DUSHANBE, October 1, 2014, Asia-Plus:

 

September 1                 - An Afghan national was detained with a large amount of narcotics in the Shugnan district of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).  Twenty packages of narcotic drug that tested positive to hashish weighing eighteen kilograms were confiscated from him, the source said.

 

September 1-2              - The 10th meeting of the Tajik-Iranian commission for trade and economic cooperation took place in Dushanbe.  The sides reportedly discussed issues related to investment in Tajikistan’s economy, development of a two-way trade and financial cooperation.

 

September 2                 - A large amount of heroin was seized in the northern Sughd province.  Resident of the Mastchoh district, Khudoydod Komilov, 41, was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking in the Bobojonghafourov district and several packages of drug narcotic that tested positive to heroin weighing 14.6 kilograms were found hidden in his VAZ-2121.

 

September 3                 - A new terminal was officially opened at Dushanbe International Airport (DIA).  The opening took place in the presence of President Emomali Rahmon and representatives of France’s Embassy in Dushanbe and French company, VINCI, which has been the general contractor for construction of the terminal.  The terminal will begin to work in October, when its personnel are ready for work.

 

September 4                 - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received the World Bank Regional Director for Central Asia Saroj Kumar Jha and new World Bank Country Manager in Tajikistan Patricia Veevers-Carter.  The sides discussed issues related to cooperation between Tajikistan and the World Bank and ways of efficient implementation of the Country Partnership Strategy for Tajikistan 215-2018, which sets out priority goals in the framework of cooperation between the World Bank Group and the Government of Tajikistan, which will further support efforts to reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity in the country;

                                    - The construction of road connecting the Tajik northern city of Isfara and Vorukh, Tajikistan’s exclave inside Kyrgyzstan, officially began in Isfara.  This road will bypass the Kyrgyz village of Aksai.  Tajik Deputy Prime Minister Murodali Alimardon, Presidential Advisor on National Security Sherali Khairulloyev, Sughd Governor Abdurahmon Qodiri as well as Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Abdyrakhman Mamataliyev and heads of Kyrgyz border districts attended the ceremony.  At the same time, the Kyrgyz side began to construct the Koktash-Aksai-Tamdyk-Kishemish road that will bypass the Tajik village of Tojikon, the source added.

 

September 5                 - Senior representatives of Tajik and Iranian counternarcotics agencies met in Dushanbe to discuss cooperation issues.  Mr. Halimjon Mahmoudzoda, Deputy Director of the Drug Control Agency (DCA) under President of Tajikistan, met in Dushanbe with Mr. Mahmoud Bayat, Director General for International Relations, Iran’s Drug Control Headquarters (DCHQ).  The two discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation between the counternarcotics agencies of the two countries in combating drug trafficking, including smuggling of synthetic drugs.   

 

September 6                 - A five-star Sheraton Dushanbe Hotel opened its doors to the public.  Tajik President Emomali Rahmon attended a ceremony of an official opening of the hotel.  The 15-tory Sheraton Dushanbe Hotel reportedly has 147 rooms to accommodate 179 guests, presidential suites floor, three restaurants, two banquet rooms, swimming pools, sports bar, café, and saunas.  US hotel giant Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, inc. signed an agreement with CJSC CHL International last year, to open a Sheraton Hotel in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.  A total cost of the project is 55 million U.S. dollars.

 

September 8                 - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received visiting Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah bin Haji Aman.  The sides discussed issues related to state and prospects of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Malaysia;

                                    - The Socialist Party of Tajikistan (SPT) held conferences in a number of cities and districts of the country to elect delegates for its 9th congress due in December this year.  The congress will determine a party list of candidates for the 2015 parliamentary elections and party’s representatives that will run in single-mandate constituencies.  SPT leader Abduhalim Ghafforov says they intend to include 14-15 candidates in the party list and three or four our candidates will run in single-mandate constituencies.

 

September 9                - Tajikistan congratulated Independence Day;

                                    - Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda received visiting delegation of the Ministry of Public Security of China (MPS), led by Vice-Minister of Public Security Lu Yanpi (phonetically spelled).  The sides discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation between the Ministry of Interior of Tajikistan and China’s MPS in combating terrorism, extremism and separatism.

 

September 10               - Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda received his Iranian counterpart Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, who accompanied Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on his visit to Tajikistan.  The ministers reportedly welcomed the signing of a government-to-government agreement on cooperation in the field of law-and-order, providing security and combating crime.  Ramazon Rahimzoda pointed to the necessity of combing efforts to address modern challenges and threats.  The ministers exchanged views on issues related to exchange of experience and training of personnel;

                                    - Tajik PhD student Alexander Sodiqov safely returned to Toronto, Canada, where he will continue his studies.  His wife and daughter joined him on September 12.  The Tajik authorities reportedly responded positively to a request from Alexander Sodiqov to allow him to return to Canada and continue his university studies.  However, the investigation into the criminal case against Alexander Sodiqov is still ongoing in Tajikistan.

 

September 10-11          - Iranian President Hassan Rohani was in Tajikistan on an official visit.  On September 10, Rohani and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon took part in a ceremony in which the second generating unit at the Sangtuda-2 hydropower plant was put on line.  Rohani and Rahmon also held talks in Dushanbe, and presided over the signing of agreements cooperation on security, anti-drug efforts, education and other issues.  On September 11, Iranian president met representatives of Tajik scientific community.

 

September 11               - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif''s National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz, who arrived in Dushanbe to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).  The sides discussed issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Pakistan;

- Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, who arrived in Dushanbe to attend the SCO summit.  The sides reportedly discussed cooperation issues;

                                    - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon yesterday received his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov, who arrived in Dushanbe to attend the SCO summit.  Both presidents reportedly declared for expansion of friendly and good-neighborly relations between their countries.  They expressed confidence that all obstacles existing in the way of development of relations between the two neighboring countries will be removed;

                                    - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon held talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Dushanbe on the sidelines of the SCO summit.  The two discussed a broad range of issues related to bilateral cooperation between their countries in various fields;

- Tajik President Emomali Rahmon yesterday met here with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev on the sidelines of the SCO summit.  The sides discussed issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of friendly relations and many-sided cooperation between Tajikistan and Kazakhstan;

                                    - Radio Asia-Plus (FM 107) celebrated its 12th anniversary.  Radio Asia-Plus (FM 107) is the first independent radio station in Dushanbe.  The radio station went on the air in Dushanbe on September 9, 2002, after waiting for four years for a frequency license.  It runs news bulletins in Tajik and Russian alternately on the hour, and plays music from all over the world.

 

September 12               - A summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held in Dushanbe.  The presidents of member states China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan attended the summit.  The presidents of Iran, Mongolia, and Afghanistan were also in Dushanbe and held meetings on the sidelines of the summit with the heads of SCO member states.  Iran, Mongolia and Afghanistan have observer status in the SCO, as do Pakistan and India.  India was represented at the summit by Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan was represented by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif''s National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz.  Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov attended the summit as an honored guest of the SCO chairman.  This year''s agenda had a heavy focus on regional security ahead of the planned drawdown of foreign forces in Afghanistan at the end of this year.  Another key topic on this year''s agenda was finalizing a mechanism to accept new members.

- Tajik President Emomali Rahmon met here with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai on the sidelines of the SCO summit.  The sides discussed state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between their countries.

 

September 13               - The body of the five-year-old Osiya who had been reported missing in Dushanbe since August 8, was found in the river in the Hisor district.  The five-year-old Osiya disappeared after she went outside to play in the afternoon of August 8.  It is to be noted that Osiya’s family lives in the same building as families of cousins Sabina and Malika Aralova live.  Sabina and Malika, age 4 and 6, disappeared under the same circumstances.  The girls also disappeared after they went out to play in Dushanbe’s Ayni Street on March 25, 2013.

 

September 13-14          - Chinese President Xi Jinping was in Tajikistan on an official visit.  Tajikistan and China reported signed 17 cooperation documents in Dushanbe. On September 13, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping attended a ceremony of introducing the second 50 MW unit of the first line the Dushanbe-2 combined heat and power (CHP) plant into operation and inserted the time capsule into the foundation stone for construction of the second line of the Dushanbe-2 CHP plant.  On the same day, Rahmon and Xi attended a ceremony of commencement of the construction of transit gas pipeline to China through Tajik territory that took place in the Roudaki district.

 

September 14               - Two residents of Dushanbe were arrested on suspicion of having been involved in drug trafficking.  Four packages of narcotic drug that tested positive to 7.22 kilograms of raw opium were confiscated from them;

                                    - The Communist Party of Tajikistan (CPT) held a plenum in Dushanbe discuss delegate quotas for the party extraordinary congress scheduled for December 27.  The congress will determine candidates for the 2015 parliamentary elections.  The CPT intends to include 28 candidates in the party list and seven candidates will run in single-mandate constituencies.  

 

September 15               - A court in Russia''s Far East convicted three Tajik nationals of membership in a “terrorist” group.  The Khabarovsk regional court sentenced two defendants to four years and three months in prison and one to four years and two months.  The defendants, aged from 18 to 23, all pleaded guilty to joining the Islamic Party of Turkestan (IPT) in 2010-2013 and propagating extremist ideas among Muslims in Khabarovsk.

 

September 18               - President Emomali Rahmon on September 18 received a high-profile Qatari delegation headed by Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani, Chairman of Ezdan Holding Group.  The sides discussed a broad range of issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Qatar.  The head of the Qatari delegation reportedly noted that the main purposes of the visit was for the delegation to establish cooperation with Tajikistan in the fields of banking, insurance and health;

- Two police officers -- Captain Jamoliddin Rajabov, 27, and Senior Lieutenant Daler Ghayurov, 26 – were detained in Dushanbe on suspicion of drug trafficking.  Several packages of narcotic drug that tested positive to heroin weighing 17 kilograms were found hidden in Toyota Camry belonging to Jamoliddin Rajabov;

                                    - Russian police say they seized more than 1,000 kilograms of Afghan-produced heroin and arrested more than 30 suspected drug traffickers in an operation targeting a criminal group with ties in Tajikistan.  Interfax quotes officials from the Russian Federal Drug Control Service as saying that the core of the smuggling group was comprised of veterans from Tajikistan’s civil war in the 1990s, including former government troops and opposition fighters;

                                    - The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Central Executive Committee held a plenum in Dushanbe review the results of the past twenty years’ work, discuss issues related to convening the party congress, and endorse the list of the party candidates for the lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament.  PDP will hold its 12th congress on December 27, 2014.  The ruling party intends to include 28 candidates in the party list and its candidates will run in all 41 single mandate constituencies in the 2015 parliamentary elections.

 

September 19-21          - An exhibition of export goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) took place at the Kokhi Borbad State Complex in Dushanbe.

 

 

September 20               - Two people killed in the meat processing plant fire in Qurghon Teppa, the capital of Khatlon province;

                                    - Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimozoda met in Dushanbe with Vice-Minister of Public Security of China, Li Wei, who is also director of National Anti-Terrorism Leading Office.  The sides discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation between the two countries in combating terrorism, extremism, separatism ad trafficking in drugs and weapons

 

September 22               - Twelve adherents of the banned Salafi religious movement were convicted in Dushanbe.  The Supreme Court of Tajikistan sentenced the leader of the group, Karim Davlatov, to ten years in prison on September 22.  The sentence followed his conviction on charges of organization of a criminal group (Article 187 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).  Seven members of this group – Yusuf Tohirov, Ayub Sharifov, Jamoliddin Loiqov, Kamoliddin Loiqov, Habibullo Rahmonov, Anvar Lashkarov, and Rahmatullo Ghulomov – were sentenced to three years in jail each.  Besides, four other members of this group were fined 60,000 somoni each.

 

September 24               - Tajikistan was recognized in New York by the UN South-South Awards for its continuous efforts in promoting international cooperation in water related areas.

 

September 24-25          - Secretary-General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), Mr. Christophe Bernasconi, paid a visit to Tajikistan.

 

September 25               - Tajikistan’s Council of Ulamo (Islamic clerics) issued the fatwa, or religious edict, against the participation of Tajik nationals in the armed conflicts in the Middle east, including the wars in Syria and Iraq.

 

September 26               - Tajikistan’s Council of Ulamo (Islamic clerics) issued the fatwa saying that “cooperation with any media outlets whose goal is to destabilize Tajikistan is  a great sin for Muslims.  Under this fatwa, cooperation with domestic and international organizations and political parties whose goal is to undermine public tranquility in the country will also be judged a great sin;  

                                    - A court in Dushanbe''s Ismoili Somoni district sentenced two ethnic Uzbeks from Tajikistan''s southern Khatlon province - Umarali Toshpulotov, 29, and Komiljon Kulboshev, 30 - to nine years in jail for fighting in Afghanistan as Taliban members.  The two were arrested by Afghan security forces during clashes between Afghan law enforcement with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan’s Konduz province in June.  They were later handed over to Tajik authorities.  The two men were reportedly recruited by Taliban and went through special military trainings at Taliban camps in Pakistan.