News

Opening Remarks by Ozan Sevimli, Chairman of the Development Coordination Council and Country Manager of the World Bank

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Hyatt Regency Hotel, Dushanbe, 14 February 2023

Ozan Sevimli, World Bank Country Manager for Tajikistan and Turkmenistan,

Chair of the Development Coordination Council in Tajikistan

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Consultative Council

National Library, Dushanbe – 7 July 2021

Jan-Peter Olters

Chair, Development Coordination Council

The summer of 2021 is a balancing act on a fine line between unique opportunities and considerable risks. In just a few months, both have increased in significance, increasing the importance of taking the decisions that address the latter within the context of the former, that combine the strategic medium- to long-term objectives with swift emergency responses. The present situation, as challenging as it appears, contains the ingredients, with which Tajikistan would be able to place itself into a position, from which to strengthen its socio-economic development perspective and foundation for sustainable growth and employment generation. Against this very backdrop, the members of the Development Coordination Council (DCC) are particularly grateful to the State Committee on Investment and State Property Management and the Consultative Council for their foresight in organising this Round Table on Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Investment Development, with a view to defining adequate responses to the emerging risks (whether they relate to the deteriorating security situation along the Southern border, climate change mitigation requirements, or indications of the pandemic’s second wave) and reflecting on ways to absorb additional budgetary obligations in a sustainable manner. Read More

Dushanbe, 25 February 2021

Jan-Peter Olters

World Bank Country Manager and Chair of the Development Coordination Council

At the time of last year’s Consultative Council, in early February 2020, COVID-19 was largely—but erroneously—still considered a localised event somewhere else, and it did not feature in the discussions around this table. Three months later, the global pandemic has brought to the fore a myriad of challenges in health, on social security, and surrounding challenges of macro-fiscal and financial stability. And nine months later still, Tajikistan has been able to prove wrong the, in hindsight, alarmist projections made during late spring 2020. Agriculture has responded with increased production to the risks of interrupted supply chains, as has manufacturing—with the importance of, and opportunities in, increasing economic self-reliance having become evident to communities throughout the country.

The overarching policy objectives discussed during recent Consultative Councils, and the steps taken by the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan in response, have proven accurate and timely, having provided for the figurative lighthouse at the distant horizon. This mental picture— relating to a quote by Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca that, “if one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable”—implies that, even with strong headwinds ( such as the ones caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic), it is still possible to move a ship, on a zig-zag course, even upwind in the desired direction. Read More

National Library of Tajikistan – 16 October 2020

 Jan-Peter Olters

Chair, Development Coordination Council

Of the set of socio-economic development challenges in Tajikistan, spanning those inherited from pre-COVID-19 times to those that have surfaced since spring, the answer tends to be private-sector development.

• Digital transformation. Two days ago, in this very room, the potential inherent in the development of Tajikistan’s information and communication technologies (ICT) sector has been discussed, and there has been a broad consensus that the success in the country’s digital transformation required investments by private companies and opened the possibility to unlock a considerably—hitherto largely unexploited—potential for new private companies, including those that would provide employment opportunities for the young living in rural and remote areas.

• Food security. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges of food security to the forefront, together with official encouragements for increased local food production and processing—relying on micro and small businesses as agents to increase agricultural self-reliance and reinforce the foundation for exports.

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“Issues of conducting analysis and preparation of recommendations for improving the investment climate in the field of information and communication technologies”

Jan-Peter Olters

Chair, Development Coordination Council

October 14, 2020

Digital Transformation as Central COVID-19 Response Policy

The COVID-19 pandemic is confronting every country worldwide with new sets of socio-economic development challenges. Already, we can see that some countries—irrespective of their income levels—have sought to ignore resultant risks and, for that reason, overlooked opportunities, with which to balance the costs from lockdowns, travel restrictions, and other social distancing measures. Without efforts to support domestic production, foster innovation, and protect employment, these countries have risked increased socio-political fragility. Already, it has become obvious in several countries that the absence of economic perspectives and increasing levels of income and food insecurity fuelled intra-society conflicts and unrest. Read More

XX Session

Consultative Council on the Improvement of the Investment Climate under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan

Dushanbe – 12 February 2020

Jan-Peter Olters

World Bank Country Director

Chair, Development Coordination Council

The results of the latest Doing Business report reflect the commitment to, progress in, and challenges of aligning Tajikistan’s economic policies to the objective of encouraging investments. The improvement relative to results from earlier years foreshadows a path towards a new development phase, one that succeeds in taking full advantage of the considerable opportunities inherent in the ambitious public investment program, emerging trade opportunities, and the country’s young and growing population. Against the backdrop of a changing internal and external environment, with improved prospects and risks, it is becoming increasingly evident—whether in terms of macro-fiscal stability, especially young Tajiks’ professional perspectives, or the breadth of the underlying tax base—that enterprises and investors will need to play a key role in buttressing dynamic, inclusive, and sustainable growth and securing improved living standards in Tajikistan. Read More

National Library, Dushanbe – 22 November 2019

Jan-Peter Olters, Chair, Development Coordination Council in Tajikistan

At present, Tajikistan is looking at an important window of opportunity—a window much larger than seen in a long time, but also one that will not stay open indefinitely. In fact, by the time that this country will be celebrating its 30^th anniversary in 2021, it will become have evident whether or not it has been successful in, or is en route to, (i) financing its potentially transformative public investment program within a stable and consistent macro-fiscal framework; (ii) advancing domestic revenue mobilisation (by increasing the relative reliance on direct taxes, broadening the overall tax base, and limiting tax incentives to only those activities with clear development impacts); (iii) providing enterprises with the space and confidence to invest, innovate, and take full advantage of emerging export opportunities also outside the energy sector; (iv) creating resultant employment opportunities and socio-economic perspectives for the fast growing, mostly rural population; and. This makes 2020 a critically important year with long-term consequences for Tajikistan’s socio-economic development potential. Read More

XIX SESSION
CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL ON IMPROVEMENT OF INVESTMENT CLIMATE
UNDER THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TAJIKISTAN

DUSHANBE – FEBRUARY 20, 2019, 09:00 AM  

Analysis of the Tax and Customs Systems and the Effectiveness of Incentives Offered

Jan-Peter Olters
World Bank Country Manager Chair, Development Coordination Council

 ‘On the Interplay between Domestic Revenue Mobilisation and Private-Sector Development’

 In your State-of-the-Union Address, Mr President, you have reconfirmed that the improvement of living standards represented Tajikistan’s ‘supreme objective’, to be achieved by addressing issues related to public administration, the country’s export capacity, investment climate, private-sector development potential, and the labour market. This vision (including the definition of relevant policy instruments), the Development Coordination Council shares—convinced that, if pursued and implemented with ambition, courage, and perseverance, it would transform the country in a tangible, sustainable, and inclusive manner and upgrade the current remittance-financed, import- reliant economic model with one that is oriented towards manufacturing and exports, providing citizens with high-quality jobs and increasing wages. Read More

Joint Annual Review—Eight Years of the Implementation of the National Health Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan 2010–20

Jan-Peter Olters, World Bank Country Manager

Chair of the Development Coordination Council

Health is often taken for granted by those fortunate enough not to be sick or injured, but it becomes the most precious good once a family member or oneself become a patient and fully dependent on the knowledge and skills of doctors and health experts and the medical infrastructure within which they work. While a value in itself, health has important effects on decisions people make and, ultimately, on economic performance, both directly and indirectly, whether they relate to frequent or prolonged sick leaves, reduced productivity, and/or the lack of focus on the work at hand.

Most critically, ill health and poor nutrition among young children have permanently detrimental impacts on cognitive skills and, ultimately, professional perspectives. For low-income families, the high seasonality of food prices increases their vulnerability to malnutrition and stunting. In the currently fast-changing world, which values increasingly cognitive skills, malnutrition and stunting will cement inequalities of opportunity and constrain a country’s socio-economic development potential. Read More