DUSHANBE, December 16, 2011, Asia-Plus -- On Thursday December 15, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon arrived in Kyiv on an official visit.

On the same day, he met with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych.  State and prospects of further expansion of economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Ukraine were the focus of the talks, the Tajik residential press service reports.

Rahmon and Yanukovych also considered issues related to cooperation between their countries in the fields of energy, education, health, youth policy and tourism.

They also discussed attraction of Ukrainian investments for the launch of joint ventures for production of electrical equipment, mineral extraction and processing and construction of railway tracks in Tajikistan.

Tajik and Ukrainian presidents signed a joint statement.  Besides, six new cooperation agreements were signed in the presence of the two presidents: a protocol on making amendments to the government-to-government agreement on technical protection of information signed in 2004; a protocol on making amendments to the agreement on cooperation in the field of government telecommunication network; a memorandum of cooperation between the Constitutional Courts of the two countries; an agreement on cooperation between the National Olympic Committees  of Tajikistan and Ukraine; an agreement on cooperation between Tajikistan’s Khatlon province and Ukraine’s Lugansk oblast; and an agreement on cooperation between the Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of the two countries.     

Rahmon and Yanukovych awarded each other high-rank honorary decorations of their countries.  Emomali Rahmon bestowed the Order of Ismoili Somoni First Class on Viktor Yanukovych and Ukrainian president bestowed the Order of Merit First Class on Emomali Rahmon.

Speaking at a news conference that took place after the negotiations, Rahmon and Yanukovych noted that the negotiations were fruitful and pointed to the necessity of an opportune implementation of events provided for by the interstate program of long-term economic cooperation between Ukraine and Tajikistan.