On March 31, a bilateral meeting of the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, and the President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, who arrived in Khujand, the capital of Tajikistan’s Sughd province, on a working visit.

The Tajik president’s official website says both leaders agreed that the signing of the Protocol on the Exchange of Ratifications of the Treaty on the State Border and the opening of the 500-kV Datka-Khujand power transmission line of the CASA-1000 project between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are historic events.

In the course of the talks, the parties comprehensively reviewed the current state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and exchanged views on a wide range of issues related to the development and strengthening of good-neighborly relations between the two countries.

The presidents reportedly considered it expedient to strengthen bilateral political dialogue at all levels and to give impetus to the enhancement of trade and economic cooperation, with a focus on increasing the volume of trade turnover in accordance with the existing potential of the two countries.

In this regard, the importance of taking joint measures to develop border infrastructure, including transport hubs and opening new border crossings in order to expand opportunities for trade and economic relations was stressed.  It was considered important to eliminate existing obstacles and simplify border crossing procedures, bolster cooperation in the fields of investment, water, energy and agriculture, as well as in the sector of industrial cooperation.

In this context, attention was paid to intensifying the work of intergovernmental structures to review the entire range of bilateral relations, and the issue of holding the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Council at the level of Prime Ministers in the near future was discussed.  It is worth noting that the decision to establish this Council was made during high-level meetings and negotiations in Bishkek within the framework of the state visit of Emomali Rahmon to Kyrgyzstan.

The parties also paid attention to strengthening cultural and humanitarian relations, especially in the fields of science and education, culture, tourism and sports.

They also exchanged views on the continuation of coordination of the positions of the two countries within international and regional organizations.