President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon is reportedly having big plans of including blockchain as a part of his authority’s modernization efforts, via new collaboration. 

Specifically, a new public-private alliance has reportedly been established, between smart contract platform Fantom Foundation and the Tajik Ministry of Industry of New Technologies, to work on the release of two new blockchain-powered tools into the IT infrastructure in the country. 

The alliance will reportedly cover researching, developing and implementing a wide range of blockchain-based data-sharing, transparency and automation solutions.

The first stage will reportedly be forming a research and development facility, dedicated to training engineers in the area in designing blockchain-powered systems. Simultaneously, Fantom will run a complete review of current data flows and paper the ministry has, and come up with proposals for ways to enhance legacy processes and potentially amp up productivity. 

Fantom will additionally deep-dive into the possible advantages of central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the nation’s payment networks. 

The Republic of Tajikistan’s modernization program – which has been in effect beginning President Rahmon’s power assumption in 1994 – has reportedly been the reason for the 2019 legislative agenda to further the scope of broadband access, expand technology training programs and form agencies, devoted to supervising the digitalization of national IT infrastructure.

“Following our success in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the agreement to begin work in Tajikistan truly underscores the ways Fantom’s solutions respond to the pressing needs of growing economies. It is tremendously gratifying to know that we can play a part in helping these countries reach their development milestones.” Fantom director of South Asia Jawid Sikandar reportedly remarked, regarding the new plan for using blockchain to bring innovation into e-government strategies.