Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan visits Rasht Valley

GARM, Tajikistan, 20 March 2009 - Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, the Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, ended a two-day visit to the OSCE's Garm Field Office and the Rasht Valley today.

Pryakhin met with Mahmadsharif Tolibov, Chairman of Rasht District, and Ziyoratsho Sa'dulloev, Chairman of Nurabad District, who expressed their gratitude to the Field Office in Garm for assisting local authorities and civil society in promoting area development.

"The OSCE Office and its Garm Field Office are committed to responding to local needs, and this meeting was informative and constructive. We discussed the problems and priorities of social and economic development of the Rasht and Nurabad districts, and potential fields of co-operation with the OSCE," said Pryakhin.

During the visit, Pryakhin also met civil society representatives, including Matluba Rajabalieva, head of Garm Development Centre, which is concerned with gender issues, Savriniso Hafizova, head of the environmental non-governmental organization Niso and Mustafo Muazzamov, the head of the human rights NGO Nihol.

He participated in a tree-planting event organized in the Rasht district under the OSCE-sponsored Green Patrols Movement project, and visited fruit orchards and a vineyard planted in 2008 with OSCE sponsorship in the Nusratullo Makhsum jamoat (settlement). The vineyard was planted on land that had been cleared of mines with OSCE assistance.

The OSCE Office in Tajikistan has five field offices: in Khujand, Kurgan-Tyube, Kulyab, Shartuz and Garm, in line with its mandate.