Uzbek gas supplies to Tajikistan revealed
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Tajikistan has increased significantly natural gas imports from Uzbekistan this year.
Shavkat Shoimzoda, First Deputy General Director of OJSC Tojiktransgaz, said that since the beginning of 2019, Tajikistan has purchased 70 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan. Tojiktransgaz is a Tajik state-run natural gas distributor, founded in 2009.
Shoimzoda noted that during this time, Tajikistan received natural gas totaling more than $8 million. He added that during 2018, when the supply of natural gas from Uzbekistan was restored in April, Tajikistan received about 54 million cubic meters of natural gas.
The main consumers of Uzbek natural gas in Tajikistan are industrial enterprises.
After six years of interruption, Uzbekistan resumed natural gas supplies to Tajikistan in 2018.
At the beginning of 2019, Tojiktransgaz decided to purchase 200 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan.
At present, dozens of industrial enterprises in Tajikistan, including the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO), which accounts for about 80 percent of total supplies, as well as Dushanbe Thermal Power Plant, use the Uzbek natural gas.
For many years TALCO being one of the world's largest aluminum producers has successfully confirmed a reputation as one of the fastest-growing companies in Tajikistan,
The company’s activity is based on modern management and international financial reporting system. Today, TALCO has actually become the sign of economic reforms in Tajikistan.
Having come to power in December 2016, the current head of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev firmly stated that he intends to improve relations with neighbors. In November 2017, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan announced "deep changes in the Tajik-Uzbek relations".
The two countries are counting on an increase in trade turnover to $500 million by 2020.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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