There is a rapprochement of the 12-th anniversary of independence of the republic. Not long ago yet the country met such holidays reporting about achievements and victories in different spheres of social life. Plants and factories reported on overfulfillment of plan, peasants - on big harvests, builders - on commissioning new enterprises, schools, hospitals. And what about today? What takes place in the republic? What events did occur for the latest year we can speak about either with pride or with regret? Let us try to give a review of the previous year.
Twelve years passed since the promulgation of independence by Tajikistan, these years comprised a lot of tragic events. The civil war, severance of economic ties with the former Soviet Union republics hurled the country back for decades ago both in political and economic aspects. And only the comprehension of the fact that military opposition led the country to disintegration, to the loss of the independence just gained made all the participants of the conflict sit at the negotiation table; in the outcome the successful agreement being signed in June 1997 under the title "Common Agreement on Establishment of Peace and National Concord in Tajikistan". Great changes took place since then in the life of the republic.
In this plane the present year seems to be a crucial one in the post-war history of our country. Emomali Rahmonov's visits to France, Germany, USA, Iran, the republic's joining to the international antiterroristic coalition have been significant steps on consolidation of a positive image of the country on the international arena. The International Forum on pure soft water participated by representatives of 52 foreign countries and international organizations passed the other day in Dushanbe, it confirmed once more the grown authority of Tajikistan in the world.
The links of Tajikistan with CIS countries and Asian states are evolving step by step, especially within the frameworks of EurAsEC and Shanghai Organization for cooperation. But if ShOC is basically a political organization developing in positive dynamics you can't say it about EurAsEC, as there are a lot of unsettled problems yet based on different internal legislations. As life practice shows, it impedes a development of national economics of these countries. In his time Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote about Russian writers that all of them had come out of Gogol's "Greatcoat". Today we can say that the economy of CIS countries also came out of a peculiar "greatcoat" - the unified national economy complex of the USSR. And if we want to preserve our own features and go ahead we need a close multilateral cooperation with CIS countries both on multilateral and bilateral levels. Herewith we shouldn't lay out of accounts the fruits of close economic, political and cultural cooperation with many foreign countries.
The main event of internal politics in the country was the referendum on introduction of alterations and addenda into RT Constitution held on June 22. Our newspaper wrote much about it in the period of discussions; the alterations being forwarded by the deputies of Majlisi Namoyandagon. All political parties except the Popular-Democratic Party of Tajikistan, public circles demanded all-national discussions of amendments, they wanted a special commission ot be created which would map out final variants. Unfortunately, the deputies ignored the demands and brought only the amendments of their own. "… all 56 amendments were piled in order to do one single option. Things turned such way that it was of no importance whether a voter agrees with one amendment and disagrees with another, it was impossible to vote on each amendment separately. The given situation deprives a citizen of the right to influence a separate amendment", - told Franklin Huddle, USA ambassador to Tajikistan in the interview to our correspondent ("Varorud", #23 from 11.06.03). In many MM publications people expressed their points of view saying that the referendum had inflicted a serious harm upon the international image of our country. But Western countries, our primary donors, preferred not to lay an emphasis on this event.
At the same time one can't deny positive shifts in the formation of a civic society in Tajikistan. Social and international organizations play a positive role in this process as they are deferred to by state organs. "The creation of a civic society is pursued by the president and the government", - says Dilorom Atabayeva, directress of the Civic Society Support Center. - Today there is a possibility to unite the efforts of both state and civic sectors". The directress of "Human Rights Center" NGO over Sughd viloyat Muhabbat Jurayeva is of the same opinion: "State organs started to acknowledge non-governmental organizations and consideration of citizens' complaints with NGOs participation became more objective".
Alongside with it positive changes take place in the economic life of the country. The launch of joint ventures, such as "Javoni", "Kabool-Textiles", "Aprelevka", "Zarafshon" and others and also a formation of private sector in the national economy of the republic not only promoted a revival of economics in the republic, but laid the foundation of attracting inward and outward investments either.
We would like to finish the article on this optimistic note, but a reader who got used to objective information in our newspaper won't consent with it. There are a lot of unsettled problems in the country yet. I am not going to adduce economy indices for the last year, to my mind, they don't reflect the realia of our life. Low living standard - 80% of citizens live beyond the line of poverty - this figure is always present in the reports of international organizations in the course of years; so, the statistical data on the highest accretion of the gross domestic product among CIS countries are rather dubious. Thereupon, we have low pensions and salaries; unemployment compels a great quantum of people to seek for their incomes outside the republic. But we mustn't lose hope. If we improve legislation, elaborate a genuine strategy of economic development of the country, put state bodies under effective control on the part of civic institutes we shall be able to change the situation for the better and build up really secular and democratic Tajikistan.