BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 26. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is looking forward to modernizing Tajikistan's crucial infrastructure for international and regional trade sustainability, Head of Tajikistan for the EBRD, Holger Wiefel, told Trend.
He also noted that the bank offers trade finance schemes for domestic exporters and importers. Particular attention was given to the development of Tajikistan's agribusiness sector, which employs nearly half of the country's workforce and contributes over 22.5 percent to the gross domestic product.
Wiefel mentioned the EBRD's active collaboration with partner banks to support micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, with 67 percent of their investments in Tajikistan being 'green' last year.
He also detailed some of the EBRD's projects in the country, saying that a major 10-year infrastructure undertaking (in the water management field) financed by the EBRD and supported the EU and Switzerland has been completed.
"The completion of these water projects provided uninterrupted access to clean and safe drinking water for more than 400,000 people in 13 municipalities. This modern water supply and treatment infrastructure is climate change resilient. It provides better sanitation and generally improves quality of life in Tajikistan,” he explained.
Wiefel highlighted the Sugd Energy Loss Reduction Project, co-financed by the EU Investment Fund for Central Asia and the European Investment Bank (EIB). It introduced advanced metering infrastructure for Khujand's electricity network customers, improving power supply reliability and significantly reducing electricity losses.
According to him, the Qairokkum HPP rehabilitation project was another point of pride, as the EBRD mobilized concessional financing from Climate Investment Funds and the Green Climate Fund. This financing supported the modernization of a 60-year-old hydropower plant that provides electricity to 500,000 people. As part of the project, professional training was offered to energy sector professionals to help them adopt best practices for mitigating climate change in hydropower plant operations.