China’s Tajikistan treaty shows Central Asia’s new investment geography

TAJIKISTAN is rarely seen as a major commercial prize. Its economy is small, mountainous and heavily dependent on remittances.

Yet, President Emomali Rahmon’s state visit to Beijing this month, where China and Tajikistan upgraded their 2007 Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Treaty into a permanent framework, shows why smaller Central Asian economies now matter in Asia’s investment geography.

The treaty should be read as a strategic-economic signal. Dushanbe wants to lock in Chinese capital, technology and infrastructure support. Beijing wants a more stable western neighbourhood for trade, logistics, border security and project protection.