President Emomali Rakhmon said the bill was developed on the basis of over 20,000 letters received by the presidential administration purportedly asking that such ceremonies be made less pompous, as more than half the country's population lives below the poverty line.
"Often such events, which are mainly held by state officials, businessmen and religious figures, resemble competitions," he said.
Rakhmon said that under the new law, weddings would be attended by no more than 150-200 people and would last only one day, with a maximum of four cars to be used. He said meals at funeral ceremonies would be prohibited.
Those who break the law would be fined, he said. The fine for ordinary citizens would be 2,000 somoni ($600), for officials 5,000 somoni ($1,500) and for legal entities 10,000 somoni ($3,000).
"According to the country's State Statistics Service, 4.5-5 billion somoni (over $1.3-1.5 billion) is spent annually on various events, while the state budget revenue is only 3.3 billion somoni," Rakhmon said.
He said 1 billion somoni was spent last year on weddings and mourning ceremonies.
Rakhmon said the measures would help improve the social sphere and contribute to economic development.
More than 2,000 representatives of the country's regions, Cabinet members, parliamentarians, theologians and public figures participated in the conference.
