VZCZCXRO7043
RR RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0577 0891302
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301302Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7078
INFO RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 8242
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1485
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1513
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 1498
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS 0846
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
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RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1465
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 1411
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1456
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RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1341
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1269
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1490
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1537
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1053

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 000577 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON EAID EAGR SOCI KWMN AF TI
SUBJECT: TAJIK AND AFGHAN BUSINESSWOMEN NETWORK AT KHATLON 
CONFERENCE 
 
 
¶1.  Maybe sewing really IS women's work?  At a March 29 
conference in Qurghon-Teppa, 50 Tajik and Afghan women 
entrepreneurs came together to network and seek business 
cooperation, but had few examples of success outside the sectors 
of handicraft.  Enthusiasm and energy were abundant, but the 
conference did not host one Tajik woman who had broken the 
barrier to running a successful broader-based trade enterprise. 
Almost all of the discussions focused on handicraft production 
and marketing except for a few mentions of women involved in 
farming. 
 
¶2.  How Afghan businesswomen could learn from the experience of 
their Tajik counterparts dominated the discussions.  One Tajik 
entrepreneur from a small village told an insightful and 
touching story about painstakingly building a handicraft 
business from just a few somoni to a televised meeting this 
month with President Rahmonov with all the women wearing 
traditional dresses her NGO had sewn and sold.  Several other 
Tajik NGO representatives discussed their entrepreneur-promoting 
activities, especially micro-lending, and how just a few 
outreach centers had positively impacted the lives of thousands 
of impoverished women by giving them technical assistance to 
participate in the handicraft industry.  In addition, local 
Tajik government officials expressed their appreciation for NGOs 
providing business and legal guidance to women starting small 
businesses. 
 
¶3.  Prospects for reviving traditional trade between the Khatlon 
region and northern Afghanistan also briefly were discussed in 
the context of the Nizhny Pyanj bridge under construction and 
shared language and culture.  Seventy percent of goods consumed 
in Kunduz come from China, 10 percent from Iran, five percent 
from Pakistan, and about 10 percent locally produced.  Goods 
from China, Iran, and Pakistan amass substantial transportation 
costs that could be significantly decreased if the same goods 
were imported from Tajikistan.  Potential items for trade 
include: wool, fruits and vegetables, clothes, tea, candies, 
medicine, oil, honey, and carpets. 
 
¶4.  The conference was the second day in a three-day trip for 
the Kunduz and Takhar-based businesswomen to visit local Tajik 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Khatlon and network. 
This trip was the first by Afghan women to the Khatlon region, 
although some of the Afghan entrepreneurs previously 
participated in a similar trip to Tajikistan's northern 
industrial Khujand city.  The regional Khatlon district 
government, a local NGO Sapeda, and the Eurasia Foundation 
jointly sponsored the event, where the DCM gave opening remarks. 
 
HOAGLAND