Government:The capital of Tajikistan isDushanbe. On September 9th 1991, Tajikistan has declared its independence from the Soviet Union. The Constitution was established on November 6th, 1994. The legal system is based on civil law system. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President. The Prime Minister is also the Head of the Government. The Cabinet is represented by the Council of Ministers and appointed by the President. Appointments are approved by the Supreme Assembly elections. President is elected by popular vote for a seven-year term. The legislative branch is the Supreme Assembly (Majlisi Oli), which holds 181 seats. Members are elected by popular vote to serve a five-year term. The Supreme Court is the judicial branch of the Government. Judges are appointed by the President.
Geography: Republic of Tajikistan is a mountainous (93% of the territory), land-locked country in the southeastern part of Central Asia. The total area is 143,000 sq km, from which 142,700 sq km consists of land and 400 sq km consists of water. Irrigated land is 6,390 sq km. The total length of the land boundaries is 3,651 km. The country borders with Afghanistan (1,206 km), China (414 km), Kyrgyzstan (870 km), and Uzbekistan (1,161 km). The climate is continental with hot summers and mild winters. Pamir and Alay mountains dominate the landscape of Tajikistan. The highest peak is Ismoili Somoni (7,495 meters) and the lowest point is Syrdariya 300 meters. The largest glacier is Fedchenko, which is 77 km long. There are 4 major rivers - Panj, Syr-Darya, Vakhsh, and Zarafshon. The following are the natural resources: hydropower, some petroleum, uranium, mercury, brown coal, lead, zinc, antimony, and tungsten. There are 6% of arable lands, 0% of permanent crops, 25% of permanent pastures, 4% of forests and woodland and 65% of other type of land.
Economy:
Gross Domestic Product - 1,806.7 million Somoni (about $770 million)
GDP per capita (by EBRD data) - $179
Industrial production (works, services) - 1,359.79 Somoni
Gross Agricultural Product - 683.99 million Somoni
Passenger transportation - 1,195.9 million passenger/km
Cargo transportation - 1,446.2 million ton/km
Cargo transportation by general transport - 3,397,200 tons
Capital investments from all sources of funding - 103.56 million Somoni
Retail trade by all channels - 553.61 million Somoni
Commercial services - 187.31 million Somoni
Foreign trade - $1,453 million, including export - $779.1 million and import - $674.3 million
Registered unemployment (as of December 1) - 49,700
Currency - Somoni (introduced in year 2000) $1.00 = 3.06 Somoni, 1 euro $ = 3.31 (February, 2003)
Investment:Tajikistan possesses rich natural resources, including hydro-energy (8th in the world), precious metals, poly-metallic ores, precious stones, coal, etc. The republic has good opportunities for developing ecological tourism. With the purpose of attracting foreign capital in Tajik economy, the government of Republic of Tajikistan introduced special terms for large investors. According to legislation, any joint venture with not less than 30% share of foreign capital, is exempt from tax on income for two years. The same exemptions are provided to foreign investments in amount of $100,000 to $500,000. If the share of foreign investor in the joint venture is between $500,000 and $2 million the period of exemption will be three years. The five year exemption is provided for investments over $5 million. At present, the largest investors in Tajik economy are companies from Canada, USA, Great Britain, Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary and Russia - companies Nelson Gold Corporation (development and mining of gold and silver), Gulf International Minerals (gold mining), Credit Swiss First Boston (futures contracts for cotton), Kabool Textiles (textiles production), Adjind International (textiles). Other successful joint ventures are Zerafshan, Darvaz, Aprelevka, Javoni, Rishta, Khujand Packaging, Marmar, etc. (This information was taken from ASIA Plus Information Agency, for more details go to http://www.asiaplus.tajnet.com)
Population: The total population of Tajikistan is 6,104,000 people. It is divided by 52% of men and 48% of women. The ethnic structure of the population is as follows: Tajiks - 62.3 %, Uzbeks - 23.5%, Russians - 7.6 %, Tatars -1.4%, and Kyrgyzs - 1.3 %. The average density of population is 42.4 per square km. Tajik (part of the Farsi language family) is the official state language and spoken by approximately 62% of the population. Russian language is the officially registered language. Uzbek is also spoken in Tajikistan.
Islam is the main religion in Tajikistan. Most Tajiks and Uzbeks belong to Sunni branch of Islam. About 5 % of the population is Shia Muslims. Most of the country's Shia Muslims live in Pamir, Gorno-Badakhshan region. The people of Pamir are part of the Ismaili branch of Islam, which is a part of Shia section of Islam. Other religions also practiced are: Christianity, Judaism, Krishnaism, and Baptism.
