DUSHANBE, August 26, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- An agreement between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on sale of 500 million kWh of Tajik electricity to Uzbekistan in August-September this year is the first agreement of this kind signed between the two countries after collapse of the Soviet Union,

Mirzosharif Islomiddinov, the head of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Committee on Energy, Industry and Construction, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

“In my opinion, this agreement promotes normalization of relations between the two countries regarding water-and-energy disputes,” Islomiddinov said.

According to him, the infrastructure for normal distribution of electrical power in the region had been created in the Soviet time and it currently exists but does not work in full capacity.  “Uzbekistan has acted wrongly because his thermal power plants have worked in full capacity in the summer period, and therefore, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have been forced to keep their generators working in vain instead of filling up the power plant reservoirs,” Islomiddinov said.

Tajik MP considers that due to its geographical location and as industrially developed country in the region, Uzbekistan is forced to cooperation with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in this direction, because there is no other way to solve water-and-energy problems facing the region.