The Ready4Trade Central Asia Project, financed by the European Union and implemented by the Intentional Trade Center (ITC), completed a series of awareness-raising workshops on gender-responsive trade facilitation in Tajikistan.

According to ITC Office in Tajikistan, the workshops were held across the country over the course of the month of August: Dushanbe (August 10, 2021); Khujand (August 13, 2021), Khorog (August 20, 2021) and Bokhtar August 27, 2021).

The workshops were reportedly designed for Tajik border officials in close cooperation with the Tajikistan Customs Service and the National Association of Tajik Businesswomen.

As explained by the Trade Facilitation Program Officer at ITC, Ms. Alina Fetisova, who designed the trainings: “the objective is to allow trade policymakers, customs officers, and border officials understand why facilitating trade for women is important, while highlighting some of the constraints that women face when engaging in international trade.  The workshops will also provide recommendations to enhance women participation in trade and to create conducive border environment through trade facilitation reforms”.

Some 100 local officials from state agencies participated in the workshops.  Sessions were delivered by local customs experts.  These experts were first trained by ITC to further disseminate the information they learned with their colleagues in various Tajik customs administrations and other relevant trade agencies.

Nilufar Haidarshoyeva, customs officer from the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), says that the training helped her to expand knowledge on problems, female entrepreneurs face during cross-border trade: “It was especially useful to learn the statistics showed in presentations.  It was also interesting to watch the videos and receive practical advices on how to work with women, who are engaged in cross-border trade.”

Parviz Yusufov, customs officer from Sughd province, adds: “The training was helpful to raise awareness on gender issues. After this training, we realized that there are many problems that need to be conveyed to others and to be addressed to jointly find solutions.”

The series of trainings came after earlier consultations with governmental entities, business associations and private sector representatives in Central Asia.  Findings showed that there is a strong demand for gender-focused activities in the area of trade, especially for cross-border trade.

Ms. Silvia Pietropaolo from the regional delegation of the EU to Central Asia, highlights: “We believe that addressing women-specific challenges in cross border trade is essential to achieve women economic empowerment and to mainstream gender across the whole policy spectrum.”

As highlighted by Mr. Pierre Bonthonneau, Trade Facilitation Adviser at ITC: “Free-trade agreements (FTAs) are not gender-neutral and policymakers should factor in the specific needs of women when it comes to negotiating FTAs. Gender-sensitive policy hasn’t reached the area of trade facilitation yet.  Therefore, raising awareness among border officials on these challenges and providing concrete recommendations for better gender inclusion at the border is crucial to improve the experience of women traders.  These workshops were a very important step in this direction.” 

With the project ‘Ready4Trade Central Asia’, the European Union (EU) and the International Trade Center (ITC) are joining forces to contribute to the overall sustainable and inclusive economic development of Central Asia by boosting intra-regional and international trade in the region.  Beneficiaries of the Ready4Trade Central Asia project include governments, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), in particular women-led enterprises, and Business Support Organizations (BSOs).  The project operates in five countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.