WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/ACC/SPEC/TJK/3/Rev.3/Add.1 
15 June 2012 
 (12-3130) 
Working Party on the  
Accession of Tajikistan Original:   English 
 
 
 
ACCESSION OF TAJIKISTAN 
 
Additional Questions and Replies 
 
Addendum 
 
  The following submission, dated 8 June 2012, is being circulated at the request of the Republic of Tajikistan. 
 
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 WT/ACC/SPEC/TJK/3/Rev.3/Add.1 
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  Question 1 
On infrastructure services described in 2(g) of Supporting Table DS:1 - Did any of these funds go towards on-farm infrastructure? 
- Could Tajikistan confirm that funds alloca ted from state budget are directed to capital 
works? 
Answer: 
Funds described in 2(g) of Supporting Table DS:1  were not used for on-farm infrastructures.  
Tajikistan confirms that these funds allocated fro m state budget were directed to capital works.  
Question 2 
On public stockholding for food security purposes outlined in 3 of Table DS:1: 
- Could Tajikistan provide more detail on what the program entailed? 
- What were the predetermined target s, and how were they calculated? 
- What measures were taken for transparency? 
Answer: 
After additional review conducted in was clarified that these procurements for food security purposes 
were conducted from the suppliers outsi de of Tajikistan.  Therefore, it did not relate in any way to the 
domestic support measures.  The revised tables on domestic support that include, inter alia , deletion 
of the point 3 will be submitted to the Working Party. 
Question 3 
On structural adjustment assistance in 11 of Table DS:1: - Could Tajikistan outline the clearly-defined criteria in detail?  
- What were the structural disadvantag es for which investment compensated? 
- Can Tajikistan provide more detail conf irming its adherence to the eligibility 
requirements in paragraph 11 of Annex 2? 
Answer: 
Funds were allocated from the state budget in accordance with development programs in the 
following sectors:  
Sectors Nature of the funds allocated 
Pedigree industry and breeding 
of pedigreed animals Program is intended to be implemented during 2008-2014 and aimed at 
improving methods and technologies of reproduction of pedigreed 
animals and establishing additional points of insemination.   
Horticulture and viticulture Under this program for the years 2010-2014 fund were allocated to State 
Unitary Enterprise (Niholparvar) for establishment of new gardens and 
vineyards.  These gardens and vineyards would be subject to privatization 
through local authorities.  
Yak-breeding This program for 2008-2015 provides for procurement of yaks and 
provision for free to farmers for introduction of yak breeding in certain 
areas of the country where higher a ltitude difficult climatic conditions 
make yak breading feasible.  WT/ACC/SPEC/TJK/3/Rev.3/Add.1 
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  Sectors Nature of the funds allocated 
The dangerous pest management This program for 2011-2015 provides for various measures to control 
pests in gardens and vineyards. 
Beekeeping Program for year s 2011-2016 includes measures to improve breed of 
bees, development of veterinary services, trainings and organization of supply of materials and equipment for bee-keepers to be paid back by 
them in kind with honey they produce.  
Fish farming Program for 2009-2015 provides for measures to recover quantities of 
pure-bred and repair group of fish in order to supply for fish farms.  
Improvement and rational use of 
pastures Program for 2009-2015 aimed at improving the state and rational use of 
pastures. 
Horse breeding Program for 2009-2016 aimed at increasing number of pure-bred horses 
and improvement of genetic and br eeding qualities of Tajik breed of 
horses.  Fund were allocated for proc urement of pure-bred horses by State 
Unitary Enterprise "Asparvan". 
Establishment of Animal 
biotechnology center Program is aimed at establishing biotechnology center for the purposes of 
improving and conserving genetic fund of pure-bred animals and improving and introducing advanced bio-technology in practice.   
 
The funds were aimed at compensating disadvantag es related to reforms on transition from market 
economy that had long standing effects given delays as a result of the civil war in the 1990s.  
Structural adjustment support measures described under 11 of Table DS:1:  - Were not based on the type or volume of production undertaken by the producers; 
- The amount of such payments in any given year  were not related to, or based on, the prices, 
domestic or international, a pplying to any production; 
- The payments were given only for the period of time necessary for the realization of the 
investment in respect of which they are provided;  
- The payments did not mandate or in any wa y designate the agricultural products to be 
produced by the recipients; and 
- The payments were limited to the amount required to compensate for the structural 
disadvantage. 
Question 4 
On investment subsidies provided to agriculture in (a) of Table DS:2: - Could Tajikistan provide more detail on th e nature and origin of this assistance? 
- What are the large amounts of funding used to subsidize? 
- Where does the funding come from? 
Answer: 
These development assistance programs were provide d and funded by bilate ral and multilateral donor 
organizations such as World Bank, UNDP, Islami c Development Bank (IDB) as well as governments 
of Japan, Germany, Great Britain, Turkey, Kuwait, and others.    
Largest amounts among these assistance programs were directed for: 
- Dangara Valley irrigation project jointly funded by IDB and Kuwait Fund - US$30.5 million; 
and 
- Cotton sector sustainable development project  funded by World Bank - US$15 million.   WT/ACC/SPEC/TJK/3/Rev.3/Add.1 
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  Question 5 
On product-specific Aggregate Measu re of Support (AMS) in Table DS:4: 
- Could Tajikistan explain why its support of cotton was so large (at US$548 million and 
274.6 per cent of production in 2009)? 
- Does it expect similar levels of support to cotton or other products? 
Answer: 
According to the Resolution of the Government  of the Republic of Tajikistan No. 406 as of 
30 May 2009, debts of cotton sector of the Republic of Tajikistan were written off in the amount of 
US$548 million.  This was a one-time support given the financial situation that lead to wide spread 
default of the cotton farmers.   
Question 6 On non-exempt direct payments in Table DS:6: - Could Tajikistan provide more information on  the types of measures and prices, as well 
as the nature of direct payments? 
- If the Government wrote off the cotton sector's debts, why did it so, and how were the 
debts so large? 
- Does it expect industries to receive similar payments in the future? 
Answer: 
Non-exempt direct payments in Table DS:6 were related to seeds provided free of charge by the 
government to seed producing farms.   
Large amount of support (US$548 million) for cotton is the same measure already described in 
Table DS:4 and in the response to Question 5 above.  Government of Tajikista n is taking measures to 
avoid similar situations in the future that could l ead to wide spread default of the cotton farmers. 
Question 7 
On non-product-specific AMS in Table DS:9: - Could Tajikistan explain the inclusion of "poultry seed" in non-product-specific 
support? 
Answer: 
Please note that there was a translation mistake:  it should read "poultry-feed" instead of "seed".  
The reason for inclusion of poultry feed in the non- product-specific support was due to the fact that 
the feed was intended for use of different types of po ultry:  chicken, ducks, geese, turkey.  Moreover, 
the data on use of this feed for each  type of poultry was not available.  WT/ACC/SPEC/TJK/3/Rev.3/Add.1 
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  Question 8 
On export subsidies in Table ES:1:  We note that Tajikistan had NIL export subsidies in 
previous documents provided in 2004.  
- Why does Tajikistan now implement export subsidies? 
- Can Tajikistan provide more information on the nature of its export subsidies for the 
export of fruit and vegetable products? 
- Can Tajikistan confirm that it will bind export subsidies at zero? 
Answer: 
These export subsidies were related to cheaper ra tes for transportation of fruits and vegetables by 
State Unitary Enterprise (Tajik Railway).  In fact, this was a decision taken by  the Management of the 
company based on commercial considerations.  Railwa ys tracks end in Tajikistan making it costly to 
return empty rail cars and platforms abroad.  Ther e was not enough clients transportation of goods for 
the Railway company in order to take out of the coun try.  Agriculture farmers were not able to pay the 
usual rates, therefore, company have taken a deci sion to provide seasonal discount rates for them.  
These rates apply only for the part of the railway goi ng through inside Tajikista n - total of only 67km 
from the loading station to the border.   
The total value of the exported products shi pped through Tajik Railways were as follows:  
- 2008 - US$24,772,201;  
- 2009 - US$19,779,709; and - 2010 - US$42,024,195. 
Therefore, ad valorem  amount of discount rates of transportati on by Tajik Railways in relation to the 
total value of exports in 2010, was 0.8 per cent only.   
 
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