Part of UK in Tajikistan
28th November 2012 Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Some words of welcome from Her Majesty’s Ambassador, Robin Ord-Smith
Welcome to the first blog by the British Embassy in Tajikistan. We’ve started this blog to provide a little more information about what the UK is doing in Tajikistan, give some clarity on the myths of diplomatic work (without being too boring!) and to give an insight into the kind of challenges that Embassies face in the modern world. Over the coming weeks and months I and my colleagues from the Embassy will be taking turns to tell our readers about what has been going on in Tajikistan, as well as in the UK.
We’re new to this, so please bear with us through any technical problems as we get used to blogging! The most important thing about this blog is that we very much welcome your thoughts, comments and suggestions on what we are talking about. We want to broaden and stimulate debate – so let us know what you are thinking by using the comments feature. If you want us to talk about a specific subject, please suggest that too.
On that note, I have been thinking a lot about two things this week. The first occurred to me while driving through Dushanbe on Saturday, which was National Flag Day here. I was impressed at just how many young Tajiks walking the streets were sporting the green, white and red of the Tajik flag, all beneath the world’s largest flagpole proudly displaying the same colours! These young people are happy and proud to be Tajik – a visible success of the government’s policy of promoting patriotism and national pride into a young independent nation. For a country like Tajikistan, which continues to rely upon the international development community (including the UK’s Department for International Development) to help it to develop, modernise and evolve into the free and successful nation that it aspires to, I am continually impressed by the attitudes of the people here. They realise that despite the daily difficulties they face, things are much better now than in the dark days of post-independence civil war, and are continuing to improve steadily with strong economic growth. We all know, and the government accepts, that there is still a long way to go. As Her Majesty’s Ambassador, I want to help Tajikistan achieve that goal. 
The second thing I noted was the results of a survey by the British Heart Foundation on the top regrets of British people. A column in today’s Times quotes Charles Dickens as saying, “Regrets are the natural properties of grey hairs”. If that is true then it is fine for me to be like Dickens, and indeed Frank Sinatra! I hope that this blog won’t be another, but for what it’s worth my top three are:
• Not having learned Russian 10 years ago – it would have made my job now so much easier!
• Not listening to my father and saving money – ditto
• Not having had the conviction of my opinions when I was younger
I’d be interested to hear what regrets readers might have and, bringing it back to Tajikistan, what regrets, if any, Tajikistan should have in how it has gone about building a new nation and fostering a sense of patriotism. Please leave your comments below. Also, why not have a look at our Facebook page? You can like us on there to see updates on our Embassy’s work and activity in Tajikistan.
I look forward to writing again soon.
Dear British Embassy,
Thank you very much representatives of Britain, who work in Tajikistan, as we know that Tajikistan gained independence not long ago, and of course there were a lot of difficulties along the way is not easy, but with your support, we can do very much!! Thank you again!
Sincerely,
Avaz Ramazonov
This is more of a personal note to HE The Ambassador!
Obviously many congratulations on all your various achievements.
I came across your BE Tokyo card when searching all my former UKTI contacts since at my tender age I am to interview tomorrow in London for a post as an International Trade Advisor. It’s quite exciting for me.
I treasure still my BE Tokyo tumbler that I was awarded in 2006 by you and my peer group when a member of a Gaming Industry outward mission.
If I am very fortunate I might get to see you in Tajikistan and we can try out our Karaoke skills again in whatever language I can manage! We all had fun on the Japan trip and some very real business successes helped by the nurture and care of the staff in the Commercial Department.
Best Wishes,
Tony.
My regret is that I have not yet had the opportunity to visit Tajikistan and hope that this can be rectified in the near future. I’ve seen some stuffing pictures of the scenery and countryside and look forward to the warm welcome that I am sure the Ambassador will provide.
Dear Mr.Robin Ord-Smith,
you ´ve mentioned the word “regrets” very often. And you ´ve asked us – the readers – about our “regrets”. So please let me start to explain my own regrets by writing a comment – years ago.
Former Foreign Secretary , Mr. David Milliband , once wrote an excellent report- called ” The Tajik Solution”, at December 8th, 2009. I ´ve wrote a comment which was published 2 days later. Today I wish that it would never has been released. The reason : The topic was clear : TAJIKISTAN.
But I was much too much focussed on AFGHANISTAN AND the Londoner Conference about this country on January 28 th, 2010. So I had already 2 reasons to regret. And – of course – once the “SUBMIT-Button is pushed-
you can ´t cancel it again. So 3 regrets. Well there is a great saying in Stuttgart : “…You can ´t dance on 2 weddings at the same time…du kannscht ned auf 2 Hochzeiten dancen….”. So this is surely 1 of many reasons why I ´m still happy that the door to TAJIKISTAN is open again-
´cause of the hard work of people like you. Thank you.
Bw, Ingo-Steven Wais, Stuttgart/Cardiff
I am not sure those young Tajiks are genuinely proud of their ‘new’, ‘independent’ country. If they were, it would not be almost impossible for them to obtain, say, a British visa.
Rose, thanks for your comment. The visa service is fully open for Tajik citizens, whether they want to go to the UK to study, visit, or do business. The process is that applicants from Tajikistan apply at the regional Visa Application Centre in Almaty, which considers visa applications from a number of countries. There has been no change to the visa requirements for Tajik nationals, nor any change to the way in which applications from Tajik nationals are considered. Also, the issue rate for visa applications made by Tajik nationals is higher than the global one; 89% of the applications made in 2010 were successful, with similar rates for previous years.
Dear Sir Robin Ord-Smith,
opening this new Embassy in Tajikistan was to me like a dream come true- Now, you might wonder why. Well I ´ve never vivisted this beautiful country but I was short before.I ´ve been already in Ashgabad/Turkmenistan and looked out for a flight to Dushanbe. But for political reasons it was not possibe.What I really want to say is that your new UK-Embassy and your work will drawing much more attention to Tajikistan-and so also a help for this state. (E.g.”Departement for International Developement” in re. of…”building up a new nation…”) And the Embassy ´s work and message to Great Britain will surely be a “door-opener”, an invitation for new UK-Business people and tourists. So maybe my next attempt to visit Tajikistan will be successfully.
I wish you and yr. team a lot of success, a lot of luck and a lot of visitors.
Bw, Ingo-Steven Wais Stuttgart/Cardiff
Thank you for being important part of our peaceful nation!!!