In Dushanbe, Dilya Zoirova, ( 992-372) 21 07 56, 21 67 43 dzoirova@worldbank.org Dushanbe, November 5, 2004 –The second in-country Donor Consultative Group Meeting for Tajikistan was held today at the Pugus Presidential residence in Varzob. It was organized by the Government of Tajikistan and the World Bank with the financial support of the Swiss Government. During the Dushanbe CG Meeting in May 2003 donors committed about US$900 million in loans, grants and technical assistance to Tajikistan for a three year period. Twenty-three donor organizations and fourteen donor countries attended the meeting today, including high-level representatives from the World Bank, IMF, ADB, UNDP and other major donor organizations. Among the major donor countries represented at the meeting were Germany, US, UK, France, Switzerland, Japan, Russia and others. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Akil Akilov and the World Bank Country Director for Central Asia Mr. Dennis de Tray. President Emomali Rakhmonov and World Bank Vice-President for Europe and Central Asia, Mr. Shigeo Katsu were among the high level speakers at the meeting. This year’s meeting took stock of the developments since the 2003 CG Meeting. The main issues on the agenda included the progress achieved in poverty reduction, macroeconomic framework and the pace of reforms in rural development, public service delivery, public administration and business climate improvement. The Government’s Public Investment Program was also presented at the meeting. “As the result of the Government’s efforts supported by the donor community, the country could make a significant step towards reducing the share of the poor population from eighty three percent in 1999 to sixty four percent in 2003. This partly became possible due to delivery on donor pledges made during previous Consultative Group Meetings and the Government’s commitment to move forward the reforms and ensure sustainable growth,” - said President Emomali Rakhmonov. “But the challenge of poverty reduction and improved economic performance still remains. To achieve this, the donors aid programs have to intensify and focus more on sustainable development.” Government expects the donors to provide more grant financing and relieve the country’s debt burden. It also encouraged donors to concentrate on private sector development and projects in energy, water, infrastructure and environment among others. “This meeting is about critical assessment of our performance to date and a frank discussion on how to do better in the future,” said World Bank Vice-President, Shigeo Katsu. “Today Tajikistan faces three main challenges to deal with, which are the need for better service delivery, more favorable business environment, and unleashing agricultural potential”. According to the information provided by the Aid Coordination Unit of the Executive Administration of the President, more than 50% of the donor commitments made in 2003 have been realized already. Donor participants stressed that in order to sustain growth and progress achieved in poverty reduction, there is a need for a more active, comprehensive and equitable land reform, a noticeable reduction of barriers to private sector development, urgency in improving local service delivery by strengthening local government capacity, and improvements in public sector efficiency and accountability in order to sustain economic growth and poverty reduction. Donors also underscored the need to strengthen linkages between the Government’s key development policy strategies and mainstreaming them into relevant public expenditure documents. For more information about the World Bank’s work in Tajikistan, please visit: www.worldbank.org/tj |
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