Russia – Tajikistan Bilateral Trade Up 18.4% In 9M 2024

The Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan, Semyon Grigoriev, has said that the bilateral trade turnover between Russia and Tajikistan rose 18.4% year-on-year to around US$1.4 billion between January to September 2024. This implies an annual total turnover of about US$1.87 billion for the full year.

Grigoriev said during an interview with Tajikistan’s National Information Agency that “Our trade turnover is growing steadily and totalled around $1.4 billion in January-September 2024, up 18.4% year-on-year. We remain one of the principal investors in Tajikistan. The overall volume of Russian investments in Tajikistan’s economy totals US$1.6 billion.”

He added that additional promising areas of cooperation include energy, mining, manufacturing construction and building materials, agriculture, telecommunications, light industry, and financial services.

Tajikistan is highly dependent on Russia in some of the key trade products important to the operation of various industries in the country: more than 50% of Tajikistan’s needs in fuels and lubricants, wood, oils, and various food products are supplied from Russia.

The country is also an active investment destination for China’s Belt & Road Initiative, which is providing loans to finance road, and rail connectivity between China, Tajikistan and onward into Afghanistan and Uzbekistan – a key part of the revitalisation of Central Asian supply chains. For example, Afghanistan has significant deposits of lithium (used in EV batteries) and beryllium, which is lighter than aluminium and stronger than steel used in airplanes, helicopters, ships, missiles, and spacecraft. Chinese and Russian investors will be looking at jointly accessing and processing these critical minerals, amongst many others, with Tajikistan potentially a key access point and processing hub.