DUSHANBE, December 1, 2014, Asia-Plus:

 

November 3                  - Some 800 inmates were freed in Tajikistan, the first releases under a mass amnesty to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of Tajikistan''s post-Soviet constitution on November 6;

                                    - A new terminal at Dushanbe International Airport (DIA) opened its doors to passengers.  To bring the Dushanbe airport up to international air traffic standards, an extension project has been launched to raise the overall space of the international terminal to 11,000 square meters with a capacity of 5,000 passengers per hour.  The project has been implemented under financial support of France which provided Tajikistan a long-term, low interest €20 million loan. Tajikistan''s own contribution is €19 million;

                                    - The Amparo human rights center notes in its statement that at least two conscripts have been killed and one left paralyzed in bullying incidents this year.  The Human rights group urged the government to compensate families of army conscripts killed in hazing incidents;

                                    - The Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Chairman Shukurjon Zuhurov received the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Astrid Thors.  The two discussed the situation of ethnic minorities in Tajikistan.

 

November 4                  - Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov received Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Gender Issues June Zeitlin.  The sides exchanged views on problems of gender equality in Tajikistan.

 

November 5                  - Four Tajik nationals detained in Egypt in September were charged with having links to the militant group Islamic State.  Investigators reportedly claim the Tajiks were trying to recruit fighters for Islamic State among tourists visiting the historic site.  Police searched the men''s vehicle and found an army knife, a military uniform, and printed materials calling for people to join the militant group.  The detained men deny any wrongdoing;

- Two more radio stations went on their air in Tajikistan.  Radio Sadoi Osiyo (The Voice of Asia) went on the air in the city of Tursunzoda, central Tajikistan and Radio Duniyoi FM (FM World) went on the air in the city of Istaravshan, Suhgd province.

 

November 6                 - Tajikistan celebrated the 20th anniversary of the country’s Constitution. 

 

November 6-8               - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon visited Beijing to take part in an Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) summit.  On November 7, Rahmon met with the governor of China''s Henan province, Xie Fuzhan.  They signed an agreement, under which the Chinese province will invest $800 million in Tajikistan''s agricultural sector.  On the same day, Rahmon held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.  Tajik and Chinese officials discussed and signed documents relating to projects involving construction of a Tajik segment of a gas pipeline, a hydropower station, and a railway in Tajikistan, as well as joint efforts to renovate a Tajik aluminum plant.

 

November 6-20             - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Jonathan Dunn visited Dushanbe to conduct the 2014 Article IV consultation.  Discussions focused on recent economic developments, risks to the economic outlook, and the prospects for policy actions and structural reforms to ensure continued macroeconomic stability and to support growth.

 

November 7                  - Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev and Saint Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko singed here a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in field of labor migration.

 

November 8                  - Chinese President Xi Jinping noted during a meeting in Beijing with leaders from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Tajikistan ahead of the APEC summit that China has pledged $40 billion to set up a Silk Road Fund to help connect countries across Asia;

                                    - Four people were killed and at least four others injured in an explosion at the fueling station in the Roudaki district.

 

November 9                  - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received Saint Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, who was in Dushanbe on a three-day visit on the occasion of Days of Saint Petersburg in Dushanbe.  The sides discussed issues related to cooperation between Tajikistan and the Russian Federation, fist of all Saint Petersburg, which is the second largest city in Russia.

 

November 11                - A meeting of the Council of Heads of the Financial Intelligence Agencies of the CIS member nations took place in Dushanbe.  The meeting is discussing fourteen issues, including a draft concept of cooperation between CIS countries’ financial intelligence agencies and the information exchange system and draft protocol on cooperation between the Council and the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism.

 

November 12                - Arsenal of weapons and ammunition has reportedly been found in the house of Jamaat Ansarullah emir for Istaravshan and Isfara, Najmiddin Shamsiyev, in Istaravshan, Sughd province.  According to the Interior Ministry press center, Baikal and Makarov pistols with silencers and 85 bullets for them were found in Shamsiyev’s house in Istaravshan;

                                    - Twelve resident sof the Istaravshan and Konibodom districts were arrested on suspicion of  recruiting residents of the northern province of Sughd to fight alongside Islamic militants in Syria.  Investigators say the arrestees were members of a group with links to a banned Islamic organization, Jamaat Ansarullah.  The 12 suspects were charged with organizing a criminal group and illegal weapons possession; 

                                    - President Emomali Rahmon received Mr. Kentaro Sonoura, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan.  The sides discussed issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Japan.

 

November 12-13           - Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda visited Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).  The prime minister met with regional administrators to discuss issues related to socioeconomic development of the region.

 

November 12-15           - Iranian exhibition of industrial goods, Iran Expo 2014, took place at the Kokhi Borbad State Complex in Dushanbe.

 

November 13-15           - A Turkish parliamentary delegation visited Dushanbe.  Turkish MPs held talks with the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) speaker Shukurjon Zuhurov and visited the  Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan upper house of parliament), Tajikistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan and saw sights of Dushanbe, Tursunzoda and Norak.

 

November 14                - Tajikistan''s Foreign Ministry asked Yemeni authorities to secure the release of a Tajik female doctor Gulrukhsor Rofiyeva kidnapped last month in Yemen''s Marib province.  Dushanbe also asked the Russian embassy in Yemen to help secure the Tajik national''s freedom.  Gulrukhsor Rofiyeva, 36, who was working as a doctor in Yemen, was kidnapped on October 29.  According to Radio Liberty, tribal sources said the kidnappers are pressing the authorities to release fellow tribesmen held on criminal charges.

 

November 14-15           - Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda paid an official visit to Kyrgyzstan  at the invitation of his Kyrgyz counterpart Djoomart Otorbayev.  The sides reportedly discussed bilateral cooperation between their countries in various fields, including energy, transportation and construction.  A special attention was paid to the border delineation problems and the sides agreed to intensify work on solving border problems.

 

November 18                - Nongovernmental organizations in Tajikistan expressed concern about a new legislation that restricts their access to foreign grants.  Participants at an international conference in Dushanbe said that according to legal amendments recently adopted by parliament, NGOs in the Central Asian nation will only be able to receive grants from foreign entities if they have approval from the government.  The leader of the National Association of Independent Media in Tajikistan (NANSMIT), Nouriddin Qarshiboyev, said at the conference that the change would have substantial effects on the activity of NGOs and would probably force some of them to close.

 

November 19                - Anvarsho Beknazarov, the chief of one of departments at the Interior Ministry, was arrested on suspicion of weapons trafficking.  Five pistols, three rifles, 634 bullets of different caliber, six magazines, one bayonet, and binoculars were found in his apartment;

                                    - A large arms cache was discovered near the village of Yos in the Romit Gorge.  Six assault rifles Kalashnikov with five magazines, three Makarov pistols with two magazines, one hand grenade F-1, one hand grenade RGD-5, four antipersonnel mines, three anti-tank mines, and 449 bullets of different calibers were extracted from the cache.

 

November 20                - Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Mirzo held working talks in Beijing with China’s State Councilor and Minister of National Defense of China Chang Wanquan.  The two discussed a broad range of issues related to international and regional security as well as bilateral military and technical cooperation between the two countries.  

 

November 21                - President Emomali Rahmon received Ms. Iveta Grigule, the head of a delegation of the European Parliament for relations with Central Asia.  The two discussed issues related to cooperation between Tajikistan and the European Union;

                                    - The deputy chairman of Tajikistan''s State Committee for National Security, Akram Amonov, told Tajik lawmakers that some 300 Tajik nationals are fighting alongside militants in Syria including the Islamic state group.  According to him, Tajik citizens usually go to Syria via Russia and Afghanistan.

 

November 22                - President Emomali Rahmon received Swiss President and Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, who is also Chairperson-in-Office (CiO) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).  The sides discussed issues related to cooperation of Tajikistan with the OSCE and the Swiss Confederation. 

 

November 23                - Tajikistan and Kuwait signed a visa-exemption deal for nationals of the two countries who hold diplomatic, special and service passports.  The document was inked by Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov and the First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah in Kuwait City, the capital of the State of Kuwait.  

 

November 24                - Tajikistan celebrated National Flag Day;

                                    - Organized by the Tajik Embassy in Kuwait City under support of the Kuwait Ministry of Commerce and Industry, a Tajik tourism exhibition took place at Sheraton Kuwait City Hotel.    

 

November 25-27           - The President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman paid an official visit to Tajikistan.  On November 26, he met with President Emomali Rahmon  to discuss state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between their countries.  Their talks were followed by negotiations between Tajik and Czech government delegations that resulted in singing of three cooperation agreements.  On the same day, a Tajik-Czech business forum took place in Dushanbe.  On November 27, Milos Zeman met with Shukurjon Zuhurov, the head of Tajikistan’s lower chamber (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament.  

 

November 26                - More than 90 NGOs from Tajikistan and other countries signed the appeal, calling on the government of Tajikistan to drop a draft legislation that would restrict access of NGOs to funding for their work and to respect the right of NGOs to have unhindered access to funding for their work, including from sources abroad.