An economic delegation from Russia’s Kurgan oblast, comprising representatives of four companies, has arrived in Tajikistan’s southern province of Khatlon to discuss cooperation.  

The Investment Agency of the Kurgan Oblast says the delegation members include senior representatives of Temper Rus Limited Liability Company (sale of plumbing and heating equipment) and Zaural Limited Liability Company (sale of timber products) as well as individual entrepreneurs Alexander Aivazov (trade in timber products) and Oleg Koltashov (trade in grains).  

Ilya Nazarenko, the head of the Kurgan Chamber of the Commerce and Industry who heads of the delegation, says: “We have arrived in Tajikistan to expand trade borders, since at present only export deliveries of sawn timber go from the oblast to Tajikistan.  Meanwhile, our enterprises can offer much more.  These are products for heat supply, gas supply, water supply as well as special equipment and agricultural products.”  

Members of the Kurgan delegation have also visited Russia’s trade representative office in Tajikistan and the Tajik-Russian Business Contacts Exchange in Dushanbe.  

Kurgan Oblast is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast).  Its administrative center is the city of Kurgan.  Kurgan Oblast is part of the Urals Federal District.  It shares borders with Chelyabinsk Oblast to the west, Sverdlovsk Oblast to the north-west, Tyumen Oblast to the north-east, and Kazakhstan (Kostanay and North Kazakhstan Region) to the south.

Large oil and gas pipelines pass through Kurgan Oblast’s territory, and Ural and Siberian oil refineries are fairly close.  The main industrial centers are Kurgan, and Shadrinsk.

The oblast does not have large economic mineral reserves; therefore, it has developed mainly on the basis of subindustries associated with processing of agricultural production and assembly and packaging of finished products.  The food industry is well developed here, with meat-packing plants, mills, creameries, and powdered milk factories.

Modern large-scale industry began developing during World War II, when sixteen enterprises from western regions of the country were evacuated here in 1941–1942.