State-owned investment firm Qatari Diar has launched a luxury real estate project in Tajikistan worth at least $150 million, the Qatari News Agency said on Saturday.

The Dushanbe Diar project in the Tajik capital Dushanbe will include residental towers, a five-star hotel, shopping malls, conference centres and gardens when finished in 2012 at a cost of between $150 million and $180 million, the agency said.

The project is Qatari Diar's first in Central Asia. The unit of the Gulf Arab country's sovereign wealth fund the Qatar Investment Authority has said it might delay plans to invest in Asian countries such as China, Vietnam and Cambodia because of the global financial crisis.

The Dushanbe Diar project was launched on Friday at a ceremony in Dushanbe with Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon and Qatari Diar chief executive Ghanim bin Saad al-Kawari.

Kawari said Qatari Diar would look into possible further investments in the Tajik agriculture and education sectors, the state news agency said. – Reuters