KHUJAND, July 2, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Representatives of Korea’s Kabool LTD, which assumes the 56% ownership interest in the Khujand-based Tajik-Korean joint venture, Kabool-Tajik Textiles, did not arrive in Tajikistan to attend a general meeting of shareholders of the enterprise scheduled for July 1 and thereby frustrated the meeting, Alisher Qahhorov, representative of open-joint-stock company (OJSC) Abreshim (Silk), which owns 44 percent of the shares in the joint venture, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

The meeting was to be held in accordance with ruling handed down by the Sughd Regional Economic Court, to which the Abreshim administration appealed on May 4 this year.     

The shareholders’ general meeting was supposed to hear report of the joint venture director general on financial and economic activities of the enterprise in 2007, as well as consider financial statements for 2007 and the plan for financial rehabilitation of the enterprises.  Shareholders were also going  to discuss the issue of assessment of the enterprise’s losses for 2007 and hear report of the audit commission, elect new members of the board of directors, new director general and the audit commission.  It is also planned  to make changes and addenda to the enterprise’s charter in connection with amendments to the law on joint-stock companies.    

 Mr. Qahhorov noted, “We now have the right to convene the meeting of shareholders in the near future again to solve the present-day problems because the 44% ownership interest allows us to do that.”

  In the meantime, the source at the light industry department within the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI) said that shareholders have to convene another meeting of shareholders in 20 days and if the Kabool LTD representatives ignore the meeting again, the Sughd Regional Economic Court may hand down injunction on transferring the management of OSJC Abreshim.  

Kabool-Tajik Textiles, which has a staff of more than 1,000 people, has not been in operation since March 19, 2008.   In former times, the enterprise had accounted for 24 percent of the volume of industrial goods produced in northern Tajikistan, while at present the joint venture owes more than $78 million to its creditors.  According to the Khujand mayor’s office, Kabool-Tajik Textiles now owes $1.8 million to the Sughd farmers alone.  

Kabool LTD manufactures man-made fiber fabrics and yarns. The company''s products include cotton, rayon, polyester, nylon, mixed fabrics, and blended fabrics.  It focuses on the research and development of value-added fabrics, such as soybean and bamboo fibers.  Kabool was founded in 1958 and is based in Taegu, South Korea.