There are no duties on Tajik confectionery here, but ours face duties there – entrepreneur (video)

At a meeting held on January 21 with the participation of ambassadors of the Republic of Uzbekistan and importing entrepreneurs, confectionery manufacturer Bekzod Samigjanov raised the issue of customs duties encountered when entering the Tajik market. A QALAMPIR.UZ journalist who attended the meeting reported this.

According to the entrepreneur, he has currently opened nearly ten stores in Kazakhstan but is facing serious obstacles in employing Uzbek citizens there. In particular, one of his employees, who had been trained over several years, was deported.

“If we had the opportunity to officially employ at least four or five of our employees at our enterprise, our problems would be resolved. This situation is creating serious difficulties for us,” he said.

The entrepreneur also noted that he has begun exporting his products to Tajikistan but is being forced to pay a 15 percent customs duty in addition to value-added tax. At the same time, confectionery products manufactured in Tajikistan are entering the Uzbek market duty-free. He asked for assistance in addressing this imbalance.

After listening to the appeal, Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khojayev noted that such issues with Tajikistan are becoming more frequent. He instructed Uzbekistan’s ambassador to Dushanbe to raise the matter at a meeting of the intergovernmental commission scheduled for March, in cooperation with the Ministry of Investment.

It is worth noting that earlier, the issue of possible reciprocal measures was raised in response to Tajikistan’s imposition of high customs duties on Uzbek exporters.