The result of a test landing of Tomsk businessmen in Tajikistan were new trade agreements

In a sense, Tajikistan is the "twin city" of the Tomsk region, since the collapse of the USSR, this republic also found itself in a kind of "transport dead end".

In a sense, Tajikistan is the "twin city" of the Tomsk region, since the collapse of the USSR, this republic also found itself in a kind of "transport dead end". This brought to life the local national project, which solves the problem of logistics. Today, the delivery of goods to Tajikistan has been resolved with the help of a new network of roads and railways. However, for Tomsk entrepreneurs, this republic until recently remained a “white spot”. The business mission of Tomsk companies to this country this summer was the first test step towards restoring lost cooperation since the Soviet era.

We can say that the mission organized by the Tomsk CCI had a “reconnaissance connotation” - we had previous intensive trade relations with Tajikistan back in the days of the Union, and after that, it all came down to the private initiative of individual companies. Therefore, few have ventured on a business trip - representatives of LLC Investment Management Company, CJSC Elecard Devices, LLC AIProjectPlus. On the first day of the visit, delegation members took part in meetings with the leadership of the Russian trade mission in Tajikistan, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of this country. These contacts allowed Siberian businessmen to better know the socio-economic situation in the republic and the priority areas for the development of trade cooperation.

"The Russian government constantly emphasizes that our business needs to move to the markets of the post-Soviet space. That is, to go where we once were before these markets get occupied by other countries, ”says Eduard Belyaev, adviser to the president on foreign economic activity of the Tomsk CCI. - Trading with the EAEU countries, for example, with Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan or Armenia has become commonplace. But there are other states that we have “forgotten” a bit about. Tajikistan is just one of them. We had never before sent business missions there, so the main task was to understand the country, its attractiveness for Tomsk business, find new niches, establish primary contacts.

As it immediately became clear, Russian influence in Tajikistan has good support: Russians are very respected there, they know our language, and the products of Russian small and medium-sized businesses are in great demand there. But at the same time, the Tajikistan market is actively explored by the Chinese, Americans, and Turks. Moreover, many Russian regions regularly “probe” the opportunity to promote their goods and services to Tajikistan. In general, the Tomsk citizens got the impression that competition in this market should sharply increase in the coming years.”

“It should be emphasized that Tajikistan turns to Turks, Chinese and other partners only because Russian business is not finalizing in establishing trade relations, it is afraid to take risks in this new for oneself territory,” explains Eduard Belyaev.

The capital of the republic, Dushanbe, is located in the center of the state, but most of the turnover is concentrated in the northern regions. During the negotiations of Tomsk businessmen with the leadership of the CCI of Tajikistan, about a dozen directions were identified for profitable cooperation - from processing fruit and vegetable products to education, hydropower, pharmaceuticals, engineering, etc. One of the results of the communication was the agreement that a delegation of Tajik businessmen would visit Tomsk next year. By the way, Tajikistan can become a kind of “intermediary” for our exporters to penetrate the Afghan market: there is a free economic zone on the border between the two republics where goods are exchanged on favorable terms. Today in Afghanistan there is a great demand for food products and construction.

Thanks to the good work of the Russian trade mission in Tajikistan, the Tomsk citizens managed to negotiate with the Tajik Megafon and established contacts with local IT specialists. Entrepreneurs visited the offices and production sites of TT Mobile CJSC, Zakia LLC, AKIA Avesto Automotive Industry JV. Particularly successful was a visit to the Tajik aluminum company TALCO. This is the largest aluminum producer in Central Asia, the largest holding, which includes several industries, including TALCO-Cable. Representatives of Tomskkabel managed to interest this enterprise by conducting quite successful negotiations on the supply of Tomsk products to the republic.

"The business mission turned out to be very informative, we had never before had a clear idea of ​​such a new promising export platform as Tajikistan. And during our first visit, we met with the main design, manufacturing and trading organizations in Tajikistan, and all the contacts turned out to be at the top level," said the representative of Invest UK Sergey Vilmsen. "This effect was achieved due to the high level of travel organization from the Tomsk CCI. I think we will continue to develop established ties with this country, especially since we saw with our own eyes that there is a demand for our products in this region, and competition may increase in the near future."

Great interest was shown in the products and services of the Tomsk company Elecard. And although the local market is not yet very ready for the technologies offered by Elecard, it will, sooner or later, “ripen” to them, and then, perhaps, Tomsk IT specialists will receive a substantial amount of work in a new region for them.

“We got the opportunity to demonstrate our developments in the field of software to Tajik companies,” says Sergey Kolobovnikov, representative of Elecard Devices. “The prospects are great - the country's industrial and social facilities are in dire need of new software solutions, especially in the energy sector. Today, the republic is gradually modernizing its production facilities, and, I believe, our company could find a niche for exporting its services and technologies.”

During the mission, Tomsk citizens participated in B2B negotiations with representatives of Tajikistan companies operating in the field of communications, energy, industry, telecommunications, and design. Preliminary business contacts were established with many of them.

One of the difficulties of doing business with Tajikistan, according to experts, is the certification of services and products. There is a big shortage of financial resources in the republic, therefore all large projects are carried out with the support of large investors from abroad - the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and other large international financial organizations. Of course, when allocating money, these banks make it a condition that products supplied for various projects must be certified by companies with authority in their field. For example, electrical products must be certified by the International Telecommunication Union, the world's most influential company in this area.

"The vast majority of Russian products do not have such a certificate since it is very expensive. Therefore, such requirements make it difficult for many Russian companies to access the local market. However, there are exceptions to the rules for unique equipment, and there are many among Russian suppliers whose products satisfy these conditions," explains Eduard Belyaev.

However, the main obstacle to widespread export to Tajikistan is the lack of reliable information about it. Therefore, the main goal of the Tomsk business mission was to learn more about this country. And although it is impossible to solve a lot with one test contact, the first step has already been taken, the further depends only on our desire and perseverance.

The business mission for small and medium enterprises was organized by the Tomsk CCI together with the Export Support Center of the Business Development Fund with the support of the administration of the Tomsk Region and the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia as part of a national project for the development of small and medium enterprises.