Tajikistan, 2005

The

recently convened High-level Plenary Meeting at the

level of heads of State or Government can rightly be

referred to as the major historical event of the

beginning of the new millennium. It is important that,

at the summit, the international community not only

reiterated previously undertaken commitments but also

took new, concrete decisions for their practical

implementation. Most importantly, world leaders

clearly stated that there is no alternative to the United

Nations as an international Organization that can

coordinate efforts to address the challenges faced by

humankind.

Through the common political will of world

leaders, a unique opportunity has arisen to strengthen

joint efforts towards peaceful and sustainable social

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and economic development and the achievement of the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); to progress

towards the eradication of poverty and disease; to

overcome humanitarian crises; and to provide a better

world for present and future generations.

Further progress requires united, concerted and

consistent action on the part of the international

community as a whole. There is no doubt that the

United Nations must play a key role in mobilizing and

coordinating such efforts. We share the view that it is

necessary to strengthen the Organization and its

specialized agencies, including through the urgent

reform of the Secretariat and of other United Nations

bodies.

Tajikistan welcomes the outcome of the

September summit and is prepared to meet all the

commitments and implement all the decisions outlined

in its outcome document. We view them as a pledge by

the international community to devote the necessary

attention to human development challenges and, to that

end, to channel additional financial resources to

countries in extreme need, such as Tajikistan.

The Millennium Development Goals must remain

the focus of our efforts. There is no doubt that, at the

national level, the pace of, and priorities in, the

implementation of the MDGs must be adapted to the

conditions prevailing in particular countries, each of

which has its own way of doing things and its own

particular characteristics.

Tajikistan aims to achieve maximum progress in

the implementation of the Millennium Development

Goals. Despite the difficulties we face, we have made

real progress towards attaining them. According to the

World Bank, noticeable positive changes have occurred

in the area of poverty reduction: in recent years the

number of people living below the poverty line has

decreased by 16 per cent.

It is clear that progress has been made in ensuring

food security, which is among the key priorities in

Tajikistan. The Government’s objectives include the

development of agriculture and the creation within it of

a viable private sector, and, at a minimum, a threefold

increase in the income of rural households.

We fully agree with the conclusions reached in

the Millennium Development Goals Needs Assessment

report submitted to the Secretary-General by a team of

experts led by Jeffrey Sachs, which state that Tajikistan

has a unique opportunity to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals, in the context of their major

parameters, by 2015. Successful achievement of the

envisaged targets will allow Tajikistan to become, in

Central Asia, an example of an emerging democracy

characterized by equality and prosperity.

Tajikistan is currently at a turning point in its

development. The armed conflict was resolved within a

short period of time, and the complex peacebuilding

phase, which is being successfully implemented with

United Nations support, is approaching its conclusion.

Over the last five years, with the involvement of the

United Nations Office in Tajikistan, the country has

successfully travelled the difficult road of national

reconciliation, enhancing its stability, establishing

democratic institutions, promoting the rule of law and

ensuring respect for human rights.

Stability and the implementation of first-

generation reforms have brought about a speedy

increase in gross domestic product, with an annual

increase of 9.3 per cent over the past five years. The

rehabilitation of the country's economy is progressing.

At the same time, the Republic's authorities have a

clear idea of the scale and complexity of the problems

facing the country and are fully aware of their

responsibilities in addressing social and economic

problems, and they are undertaking every possible

measure for their resolution.

Tajikistan is one the first countries in the world to

have generated, with the assistance of the United

Nations, an estimate of the overall costs and resources

required for the implementation of the MDGs. The

Millennium Development Goals Needs Assessment

identified the fundamental structural and institutional

reforms needed in Tajikistan to create an enabling

environment for achieving the MDGs; policy priorities

in respective sectors; and financial schemes for funding

the development of rural areas, the educational and

health systems, the water supply and sanitation

infrastructures, and the environment.

According to The Millennium Development

Goals Needs Assessment, Tajikistan will need about

$13 billion over the next 10 years to achieve the

required progress in the implementation of the MDGs.

However, the Millennium Development Goals

Needs Assessment is only the first concrete measure.

Based on that document, a National Strategy for

Development for 2006-2008 and a more detailed

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Strategy for Poverty Reduction for 2006-2008 are

currently being elaborated in Tajikistan. These

measures, undertaken by the Government of Tajikistan,

fully accord with the decisions of the summit on the

elaboration of national strategies for development.

Tajikistan's social and economic development

will depend largely on the international community's

approach to addressing existing challenges, including

poverty eradication; development financing; the

creation of an equitable system of world trade; the

alleviation of the consequences of natural disasters;

and the resolution of demographic problems. That is

why the summit's decisions on such a crucial issue as

development financing are of pivotal importance for

Tajikistan.

Allow me briefly to touch on some key issues.

I turn first to needs related to official assistance

for development. In cooperation with United Nations

experts, we assessed our needs in this area in a detailed

and transparent manner. Currently, our financial

requirements for sustainable development considerably

exceed the available federal and external resources. Of

the $930 million that international donors have

committed to allocate to Tajikistan during the period

2003-2005, only 40 per cent has actually been

provided. We call on the international community to

double, at a minimum, existing aid for the

implementation of the MDGs.

Reducing the burden of foreign debt is of special

importance for us, since the funds released can be

invested in development. Due to the efforts undertaken

by the Government to reduce the burden of servicing

foreign debt, some progress has been achieved in the

restructuring of bilateral debts in recent years.

However, in the near future, the debt burden will

remain heavy. According to estimates, this year debt

will equal more than 40 per cent of gross domestic

product, and it will continue to pose a threat to the

macro-economic stability of the country and to plans

for development.

The economy and trade in Tajikistan depend to a

large extent on favourable conditions in the world

market. Tajikistan hopes for the successful completion

of the Doha round of trade negotiations within the

World Trade Organization, in order that it may fully

realize its potential in the field of development and so

that progress can be made towards an open and

equitable system of world trade.

Lack of access to the sea and remoteness from

world markets significantly increase transit

transportation expenditures, make it harder for the

country to participate in world trade and directly affect

the poverty rate in the country. In that context, the

promotion of regional cooperation, primarily with

neighbouring countries, is a key factor for the

achievement of the MDGs in Tajikistan.

Our region faces specific problems, given that the

establishment of an environment conducive to

developing trade relations and the promotion of

economic relations as a whole depends, in many

respects, on the success of the stabilization and

peacebuilding processes in neighbouring Afghanistan.

With respect to the country's post-conflict

rehabilitation, it is clear that, at the regional level,

active involvement by the States of Central Asia

neighbouring Afghanistan in its development will be

key to the success of the efforts undertaken there.

In this connection, Tajikistan believes that it is

absolutely essential that Afghanistan share in the

multifaceted process of regional cooperation. We

expect our region's leading international partners to

provide appropriate support for that process. Indeed,

that issue could be considered by the new United

Nations Peacebuilding Commission.

Although we rely on international assistance, the

Government of Tajikistan is making increased efforts

to utilize the country's own capacity to the fullest

extent. Tajikistan's water resources offer enormous

advantages in terms of the implementation of the

MDGs. Unfortunately, less than 5 per cent of their

potential is currently being exploited.

Rational and fair management of water resources

will contribute directly to progress towards the MDGs

by helping to address challenges related to, inter alia,

food security, employment, sanitation, the reduction of

disease and increased school attendance. Our common

goal is to develop a qualitatively new pattern of

sustainable water resource management and to address

water economy challenges at the national, regional and

international levels by bringing together international

community support and national efforts, while ensuring

that the countries themselves and even subregions

facing water supply problems play the leading role.

We expect all countries and all of the specialized

agencies of the United Nations to take an active part in

events relating to the International Decade for Action

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"Water for Life", the success of which will depend on

joint activities being undertaken. That should make a

common, tangible contribution to the future of

humankind.

As a country that has lived through civil conflict,

Tajikistan considers progress in the implementation of

the MDGs to be of special significance. The successful

social and economic development of the country is the

key to preventing a recurrence of such conflict. Our

experience teaches us that creating conditions that can

prevent the resumption of conflict and strengthen the

process of advancing social and economic development

in countries that have lived through such conflict must

be among the key goals of the international

community. In this connection, we fully share the

conviction that the United Nations must focus on

overcoming and preventing conflict and on post-

conflict rehabilitation and development. We hope that

the new United Nations Peacebuilding Commission

will expand the capacity of the international

community to respond to the needs of post-conflict

countries and allow a direct link to be made between

security and development. The Economic and Social

Council is called upon to play its role in that process.

Tajikistan, which suffered in its struggle for

independence, has resolutely set out on the democratic

road towards development, and will not turn back. The

international community, first and foremost the United

Nations, has made an enormous contribution in that

regard, and for many years we have benefited from its

generous assistance and selfless support.

We are convinced that the United Nations should

remain the key body for regulating international

relations in the new millennium. We are working on

the assumption that the consolidating function of the

United Nations should be enhanced. The reform of the

Organization should be rational, and the renewed

United Nations itself should be strong and capable of

responding to world events in a swift and proper

manner so that it can effectively counteract the many

global challenges and threats of a new generation.

Tajikistan will make its own contribution in that area

with a view to strengthening the United Nations and

enhancing its role in the modern world.