Tuesday, April 24, 2012 -
Tajikistan's Sughd Free Economic Zone (FEZ) is close to signing an agreement on exporting synthetic dyes to southern neighbor Afghanistan, a senior official said on Monday.
If the deal is nailed down, it will mark the first direct exports made by a firm within the zone, located in Tajikistan’s industrial north, said Uktam Normatov, deputy chief of the Sughd FEZ.
Negotiations are currently underway with likely Afghan partners, the AsiaPlus.tj news agency reported Normatov as saying.
Other goods produced within the zone in Khujand province are currently sold on local markets, while some of these are then exported to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
The Sughd FEZ comprises 18 companies whose total output in the first quarter of this year amounted to a little more than $670,000.
Also this week, the administrative chief of the Sughd FEZ, Anvar Yakubov, held talks with the head of British consultancy firm etc4CA on finding ways to attract small and medium foreign enterprises to the zone, the Avesta.tj news agency reported.
Yakubov and Tony Nelson also reviewed the progress of plans to build an international exhibition congress complex. The facility will be composed of a transportation hub and a support center for entrepreneurs, utilizing modern technologies as well as alternative energies.