DUSHANBE, December 17, 2013, Asia-Plus – Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz Service reports the Kyrgyz government has asked Tajikistan to hold the next round of talks on border demarcation.

The head of the Kyrgyz government''s agency for border demarcation, Kurbanbai Iskandarov, said on December 16 that Bishkek proposed that Dushanbe hold the gathering on December 24.

According to RFE/RL, Iskandarov''s statement comes as Tajik border guards released two Kyrgyz citizens detained on December 15 for allegedly crossing the border illegally.

The two Kyrgyz nationals were detained while trying to transport two electric poles in a disputed area near a Tajik village to a Kyrgyz village.

Clashes between Kyrgyz and Tajiks along the border have been reported several times this year.

Three countries sharing the Ferghana Valley -- Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan -- inherited unclear borders at their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Many populated areas remain in dispute.