Tajik Leader, Russian Oil and Gas Official Mull Cooperation

Excerpt from report by Tajik news agency Asia-Plus website

Dushanbe, 10 July: During a meeting today, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and the chairman of the SoyuzNefteGaz company’s board of directors, Yuriy Shafranik, discussed the possibility of implementing investment projects in Tajikistan with the participation of the supreme council of miners of Russia and the interstate oil company SoyuzNefteGaz.

[Passage omitted: Shafranik is quoted as saying that the supreme council of miners of Russia unites the producers of gold, oil and gas sector]

Shafranik said his company had been considering operational opportunities in Tajikistan without making the issue public. “We asked for an audience with the head of state [Emomali Rahmon] in order to obtain a political approval for implementing these projects, and we have received it,” he said.

Shafranik refrained from commenting on specific projects, but said that it would be possible to talks about such projects when we get “the first tonnes, cubic metres, ore and money”. “The initial projects in Tajikistan are related to ore, but the president asked that we consider opportunities in the oil and gas sector,” Shafranik said.

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