- TCA English Language Newspaper in Central Asia
U.S. Government project helps Tajikistan\'s economy grow with better laws
Date:02-12-2005 10:52
Country: Tajikistan
Source:TCA<>
Author:
DUSHANBE, December 2 (TCA). Modern international law is the foundation of a
prosperous economy. ARD/Checchi, funded by the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), has been working with Tajik professionals
since 1999 to write business and economic laws to help Tajikistan's economy grow
and
diversify.
In the global economy, laws must be carefully drafted to encourage business to
develop, to allow government to collect tax revenues fairly and accurately, and
to protect peoples' property rights. ARD/Checchi's Commercial
Law Project is a four-year training program for selected Tajik legislators and
others responsible for writing modern, economically sound laws. The Commercial
Law Project provides outside expertise and financial assistance
to government drafting groups.
"The training funded by USAID has not only improved my law drafting skills, it
has enabled me to teach the lessons I've learned to other lawyers who draft
laws," stated Rasul Abdulloyev, Head of the Legislation Department at the
Ministry of Justice, who participated in ARD/Checchi's training program and more
recently has served as an effective trainer for the program.
ARD/Checchi is working with the government to make sure that new laws not only
get passed but get implemented effectively. The Tajik Law on Bankruptcy is a
good example. The Commercial Law Project worked to develop and support an
association of professionals capable of handling the complexities of commercial
bankruptcy. Organized with ARD/Checchi assistance in December 2004, the
Association of Tajik Bankruptcy Trustees now has more than 20 members, most of
them received professional bankruptcy training in St. Petersburg.
In May 2004, the Higher Economic Court issued an order recognizing that the
trustees trained by the Commercial Law Project met all legal and professional
requirements to handle bankruptcy cases before the Court.
In the ten years prior to the formation of the Trustee Association, the Tajik
courts concluded only one bankruptcy case. With help from ARD/Checchi, members
of the new Trustee Association are now working on several cases. For example, in
the 2005 bankruptcy of case the Tajik Joint Stock Company Dushanbe Bank, Dilovar
Mavlonov, a bankruptcy trustee trained by the Commercial Law Project, located
and returned to creditors nearly $ 30,000 of debtor assets. A previous trustee,
who had not received such training, worked for two years on the case and was
unable to locate a single dollar's worth of assets for creditors.
"The training I received from the Commercial Law Project gave me the knowledge
and skills to serve creditor committees effectively in bankruptcy cases.
Bankruptcy is an important aspect of the modern business environment, and in
Tajikistan, the Bankruptcy Law is working because of development assistance from
the ARD/Checchi team," said Mr. Mavlonov.
For a democratic society to function effectively, businesses, citizens, and
government agencies must have adequate access to the law. The Commercial Law
Project has worked with the Ministry of Justice and other government agencies
for more than five years to obtain copies of all Tajik laws. Using these
official texts, the Commercial Law Project has painstakingly built an electronic
database of laws, government decrees, treaties, and plenum judicial decisions
known as "Adlia." The Adlia database is currently distributed by the Commercial
Law Project free of charge to government agencies, private business,
international and local NGOs, and other entities
and individuals upon request.
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