Dushanbe. November 22. "Asia-Plus" - On Tuesday Tajik Minister of Energy and Industry, Gul Sherali, met with a number of Norwegian ministers in the course of his official visit to this country.

Gul Sherali met with Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Torgeir Larsen, senior officials of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, Statnett state coordinating network and a series of Norwegian energy companies, press service of the Tajik Ministry of Energy and Industry told AP.

Meetings were mainly focused on strengthening of bilateral cooperation in energy and industry sectors, and attraction of Norwegian investments into Tajikistan’s economy. The sides have agreed to develop and expand cooperation in favor of further development of Tajikistan’s energy sector.

Gul Sherali told his Norwegian counterparts that the Government of Tajikistan supports projects aimed at direct investment to the republic’s energy and industry sectors.

“Tajik Ministry of Energy and Industry, International Finance Corporation and Tajik-Norwegian Center for Development of Normative Investment Documents have implemented a series of pilot projects in the past 18 months,” he said.

Tajik Minister stressed that neighboring countries, especially Afghanistan, lack electricity and “these problems could be settled through import of energy from Tajikistan.”

“There are two power lines and we continue to develop our CASA-1000 project that will link Tajik and Afghan energy systems,” he said.

According to the source, Tajik-Norwegian cooperation is based on the MoU between Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tajik Ministry of Energy and Industry inked back in early 2010.

According to the Tajik Statistical Agency, the volume of Tajik-Norwegian trade turnover in the past 10 months this year made $103.000, including $98.600 gained from import of Norwegian goods to Tajikistan. The trade turnover has doubled as compared to the same period last year.