He said that about 30,000 cubic meters of gas per hour was supplied to Tajikistan now.

"This amount meets demands of the country’s three major enterprises and population for gas. Companies of the industrial sector such as the Tajik aluminium company (Talco), Tojikcement Tajik cement and the Dushanbe thermal power station are receiving gas," Saidahmad Sharofiddinov said.

He said that a reason behind the cut of gas supplies was the SUE [State Unitary Enterprise] Tojiktransgaz’s US$16 million debt to the Uzbek Uztransgaz company.

The head of the Tojiktransgaz also said that issues of cooperation between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the gas sector would be discussed in Dushanbe at the beginning of next week at the second meeting of the Tajik-Uzbek intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation.