WILL THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF TAJIKISTAN BE ACHIEVED WITH APPLAUSE OR GRATITUDE?

The industrialization of Tajikistan is a slogan of the Tajik state, but it is not authentically Tajik, and it is difficult to grasp what lies behind it. It seems as though recently Tajikistan has suddenly fallen from distant space to Earth, and the chief of this piece of land, looking around at the life of the people, exclaimed: "Industry! Industry! Industry is the path to progress in the future!" One person wants to protest. He raises his hand. Another person pulls his hand down:
— Are you crazy? Applaud!

— Yes, I am applauding, but how are we going to feed ourselves? The monthly salary isn’t enough. How will we feed our children? Ahead, we have to pay for school repairs, buy school uniforms, pay teachers, and cover a thousand other living expenses. Oh, God, when will you save us from this dark time?
— Don’t be ungrateful, applaud, — said another and added: — Industry! Industry! Did you hear? Did you see how wise our leader is?
— I heard, I saw, — he replied and then thought: in the past, we had industry. Our leader gave the large industrial enterprises to small chiefs thirty years ago. The equipment and factories were sold to China as scrap metal; they made money, built luxurious houses, bought "Jeeps". The USSR is no more to rebuild factories for us. Yes... Maybe we’ll take a loan from China and build factories. And the people will be busy struggling for their survival.
In reality, in thirty years, only one small industrial enterprise was built in Hisor, which produces low-quality rebar from the scrap metal collected by the people. We have a cable production plant that began operating before the industrialization of Tajikistan. A few textile factories were also built in the Sughd region and in the city of Bokhtar, but they stopped working before they even started. The tax imposed by the state on the purchase of local cotton sealed the doors of these factories, which never began operation.
A few years ago, the government of Tajikistan decided to process 20 percent of domestic cotton in internal enterprises and export cotton fabrics, yarn, and various types of children's and women's clothing to foreign markets. Entrepreneurs in Khujand began building textile factories in the districts of the Sughd region. A large textile complex was built in Bokhtar, which had remained unfinished since Soviet times. This government initiative became a topic of discussion. Everyone hoped that they could finally earn something from their hard work in cotton farming.
The State Tax Committee was also pleased with this initiative and suggested to the government that enterprises should pay a ten percent tax on the purchase of local cotton. The government unconditionally accepted this proposal.
When the enterprises started operating and made their calculations, they dropped their pens. Their products could not compete with goods from Turkey and China in both domestic and foreign markets. With the ten percent tax imposed on their products, no buyers were found. Russia refused to purchase the expensive goods from Tajikistan, and the enterprises shut down. Both the state, the cotton farmers, and the textile workers suffered failure.
There is a Tajik proverb: "Measure seven times, cut once." In Tajikistan, there is no one left who measures seven times and cuts once. We have specialists with diplomas as big as a cow’s tongue, but their diplomas reflect their qualifications, while their brains are empty. We have ministries, but no good ministers. This is the main obstacle to the industrialization of Tajikistan.
By the way, here is an example from Kyrgyzstan, which, like Tajikistan, was a country left to the mercy of God. Several years ago, this country, like Tajikistan, decided to process part of its domestic cotton within the country. Kyrgyzstan, in implementing this program, cooperated with Russia and built joint textile enterprises. But unlike in Tajikistan, these enterprises were not taxed but rather granted benefits.
Now, the products of Kyrgyzstan’s textile industry have filled not only the markets of Tajikistan but also those of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. Women's clothing produced in Kyrgyzstan is as competitive in the markets as goods from Turkey and China.
Tajikistan also planned to implement this program, but in the pursuit of an additional ten percent tax, sacrificed this program and its textile enterprises, because the republic was left to the mercy of God, and it no longer has either statesmen or good ministers.
It is not unlikely that in the future we will refuse to build factories for the production of electric vehicles, interplanetary taxi-rockets, and restaurants on other planets. Because our state lives by its slogans, and the people by their dreams.