DUSHANBE, August 28, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The issue of construction of Central Asia’s largest mosque in Dushanbe under financial support of Qatar will have been solved this year during a visit of Qatari foreign minister to Tajikistan, President Emomali Rahmon remarked at an official ceremony of presentation of the Diyori Dushanbe project in Dushanbe on August 27.

According to him, the internally known construction company from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Adnan Saffarini, may be chosen as contractor for construction of this facility.

We will recall that an agreement on construction of Central Asia’s largest mosque in Dushanbe that will be able to accommodate some 50,000 people was reached during an official visit of Qatar Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to Tajikistan in August 2007.

Speaking in an interview with Asia-plus, the Chairman of the State Committee for Investments and State-owned Property Management Farrukh Hamraliyev said, “Qatar is pioneer in Arab space in investing in projects in Tajikistan.”

According to him, Arab states accounted for only two percent of the overall amount of foreign direct investments (FDIs) in Tajikistan’s economy in 2008 (A total amount of direct investments in Tajikistan’s economy last year was 800 million U.S. dollars).”  Hamraliyev expressed confidence that Qatari investments in Tajikistan this year will improve these statistics.

“A land plot has been allotted for construction of Qatari Bank’s building at the Ayni Street in Dushanbe and this bank will promote increase in Qatari investment flows to Tajikistan,” he said.