The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) has launched a three-year project to support young entrepreneurs in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) and the Rasht district (eastern Tajikistan).

Presentation of the project, Local Economic Development in Separate Mountain Regions (GBAO/Rasht), was given in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region, on March 9.

It was noted during the project presentation that Tajikistan with its average GDP per capita amounting to only 871 U.S. dollars is one of the world’s twenty poorest countries.

The meeting participants noted that youth under the age of 25 years constituted more than half of the current country’s population and it was important to offer them working places or to create new jobs in order to give them an opportunity to financially maintain their families.  

The most tense situation in this regard is in mountain regions, the meeting participants noted.  The main economic sector of these regions – agriculture – provides too few jobs, while other economic sectors like transportation and tourism are not enough developed yet to cover the shortage of jobs.  Besides, many labor migrants are returning home from Russia and Kazakhstan because of the economic crisis. 

GIZ representative in Tajikistan, Ms. Gabriela Walte (phonetically spelled), noted that the project aimed at supporting local economies so that young people in Khorog, Murgab and Rasht could have enough conditions for creation of self-employment.

She noted that support was focused sectors like agriculture, transportation and tourism.

The project that will initially be launched in Gorno Badakhshan will be implemented under financial support of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development in partnership with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan and local authorities.

In the Rasht district, the project will be launched in 2018.  

The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) is an international enterprise owned by the German Federal Government, operating in many fields across more than 130 countries.  It primarily works for public-sector organizations.  Its headquarters are located in Bonn and Eschborn, Germany.

The German Agency for international Cooperation was established on January 1, 2011 through a merger of the three German organizations: the German Development Service (DED), the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and International Training and Capacity-Building (InWEnt).

In Tajikistan, GIZ has been supporting economic and social development and reconstruction since 1995, and opened an office in the capital Dushanbe in 1996.  Program offices in Dushanbe, Khujand and Khorog support GIZ’s work in rural regions.