President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon met with his Kyrgyz counterpart Sadyr Japarov on October 13 in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, on the margins of a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State.

According to the Tajik president’s official website, the parties discussed state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral political, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation between their countries.

Tajik leader reportedly emphasized the importance of further development of centuries-old ties of friendship and good neighborliness between the peoples of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. 

In the course of the talks, Rahmon and Japarov had a detailed consideration of issues related to delimitation and demarcation of the shared border and agreements reached in this direction recently.

The heads of the states positively assessed activities of the joint intergovernmental commission for delimitation and demarcation of the mutual border and spoke in favor of further intensification of work, the Tajik president’s official website said.

The presidents reportedly agreed to maintain a regular political dialogue at the highest level, which traditionally gives impetus to the development of the entire range of bilateral relations 

Recall, Emomali Rahmon and Sadyr Japarov on September 19 met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.  It was their second one-on-one talks in the space of a week, following the meeting held in Dushanbe on September 14 during a Central Asian presidential consultative meeting, and a statement issued by Kyrgyz president’s office said the issues of delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border were object of special attention.   

Co-chaired by Tajik and Kyrgyz security service officers Saimumin Yatimov and Kamchybek Tashiyev, the next meeting of the government delegations of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on delimitation and demarcation of Tajikistan’s common border with Kyrgyzstan took place in the Kyrgyz city of Batken on October 2.

The parties reportedly exchanged views on the issue of delimitation of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border.  The heads of the delegations, expressing full mutual understanding of the need to intensify further description of the passage of the project line of the Tajik-Kyrgyz state border in the remaining sections, gave appropriate instructions to the working groups.  In the course of the talks, the parties particularly noted the need to strengthen friendship, mutual understanding and trust between the border regions and districts of the two nations.  The meeting ended with signing of a protocol.  

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have not yet resolved the border delineation problem.  Many border areas in Central Asia have been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.  The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the Fergana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan meet.

The border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has been the scene of unrest repeatedly since the collapse of the former Soviet Union.  Border talks between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan began in 2002.  The countries share 972 kilometers of border – of which only 664 kilometers have been properly delineated, leading to tensions for the past 30 years.

To-date, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have reportedly held more than 170 meetings and negotiations on delimitation and demarcation of the common border.