DUSHANBE, January 23, 2012, Asia-Plus — Kyrgyz-Tajik border talks are under way in Bishkek, Radio Liberty reports.
The talks, which are expected to last until January 26, are focusing on a 40-kilometer-long border segment.
Ill-defined borders have led to tensions in the region.
Tajikistan’s delegation arrived in the Kyrgyz capital on January 21.
The two Central Asian states share a 970-kilometer-long border, but only 519 kilometers were fully agreed upon after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The meetings are being held amid the ongoing Kyrgyz-Uzbek border crisis around Uzbekistan”s Sokh district.
The exclave is surrounded by Kyrgyzstan”s Batken Province and is populated mainly by ethnic Tajiks.
Problems escalated there after Sokh residents clashed with Kyrgyz border guards this month over the installation of electric power lines to a new Kyrgyz border post.
