Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said after a meeting with his Tajik counterpart that Kazakhstan was ready to contribute up to $100m to set up a Kazakh-Tajik investment fund to implement promising projects in Tajikistan.

One of such projects will be the development of Tajikistan’s hydropower resources. President Nazarbayev said that if Tajikistan were to set up a consortium to operate the Rogun hydropower station Kazakhstan would join it.

Kazakhstan, whose water resources are scarce and which is facing shortages of electricity, shows strong interest in involvement in water and power projects in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the only commodities the countries have in abundance because they are located in the upper reaches of the rivers in Central Asia and operate the region’s largest hydropower stations.

Tajikistan, perhaps, Central Asia’s poorest country, needs foreign investment to develop infrastructure projects in the country: it has been waiting for a long time for its main partners – Russia and Iran – to help its economic development. However, it appears now to be more successful in doing so with the involvement of other countries, for example, China. On the other hand, Kazakhstan has proven itself a reliable regional partner and investor in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan and Georgia.

The new fund will help Kazakhstan become Tajikistan’s major investor in the near future. At the moment, Kazakh investment in the country does not exceed $35m.

Mr Rahmon is the third Central Asian leader after President Kurmanbek Bakiyev of Kyrgyzstan and President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan to court Astana in a space of a month. This shows Kazakhstan’s role as a political and economic powerhouse in the region. Another reason for these visits is grain supplies from Kazakhstan.

Fearing bread shortages in the country, the Kazakh government has imposed a ban on grain exports until a new harvest this autumn, forcing its poorer neighbours to look for grain in other countries, such as Australia and Canada.

President Nazarbayev said that it was in Kazakhstan’s interest to supply wheat to Tajikistan. However, the declaration of intentions is of little use for Tajikistan, as well as the other neighbouring countries, if they still have to wait until autumn to satisfy their needs with Kazakh grain.

Kazakhstan supplied 300,000 tonnes of wheat and the same amount of flour to Tajikistan last year. In addition, when Tajikistan experienced one of the coldest winters in the past several decades and had to declare an emergency situation and appeal to the international community for assistance, Kazakhstan sent 1,000 tonnes of wheat and fuel to Tajikistan as humanitarian aid.

Trade between the two countries increased by 64% to $303.5m last year, of which $278.5m was Kazakh exports.