Donor conference spells out medium-term commitment

A donor conference held in the Tajik capital Dushanbe has reiterated support for poverty reduction and reform efforts to ensure sustainable development in the country. Donors looked at progress since May 2003 when the first consultative group (CG) meeting was held, reviewed disbursements to date and discussed emerging issues, Cevdet Denizer, the World Bank's country manager for Tajikistan, told IRIN from the Kazakh commercial capital of Almaty on Tuesday. The meeting was held last Friday and organised by the Tajik government and the World Bank with financial support from the Swiss government. More than 20 donor organisations and 14 donor countries, including representatives from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), attended the event. Among the major donor countries represented at the meeting were Germany, the US, the UK, France, Switzerland, Japan and Russia. This meeting was about critical assessment of our performance to date and a frank discussion on how to do better in the future, said Shigeo Katsu, the World Bank Vice-President for Europe and Central Asia. "Today Tajikistan faces three main challenges; the need for better service delivery, a more favourable business environment and unleashing agricultural potential." The meeting discussed progress achieved in poverty reduction, the macroeconomic framework and the pace of reforms in rural development, public service delivery, public administration and business climate improvement. "The country made a significant step towards reducing the share of poor in the population from 83 percent in 1999 to 64 percent in 2003. This partly became possible due to delivery on donor pledges made during previous CG meetings and the government’s commitment to move forward the reforms and ensure sustainable growth,” Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov said at the meeting. "But the challenge of poverty reduction and improved economic performance still remains. To achieve this, donor aid programmes have to intensify and focus more on sustainable development," Rahmonov added. Tajikistan is the most poor of the former Soviet republics, with an average monthly salary less than US $20. In May 2003, donors committed about $900 million in loans, grants and technical assistance to Tajikistan for a three-year period, including $200 million in humanitarian assistance. Some two-thirds of the total pledges were grants. According to the aid coordination unit of the Tajik President's administration, more than 50 percent of donor commitments made at that meeting have already been realised. Meanwhile, Dushanbe expects the donors to provide more grant financing and relieve the country’s debt burden. According to a report by the Russian Interfax news agency, Tajikistan's foreign debt stands at $630 million. The Tajik government also encouraged donors to concentrate on private-sector development and projects in energy, water, infrastructure and environment among others.