DUSHANBE, October 8, 2013, Asia-Plus — On Monday October 7, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received visiting State Duma (Russia’s lower house of parliament) speaker Sergey Naryshkin.
He told journalists after the talks that entry of an agreement on the status and terms of presence of Russian military base in Tajikistan into force would be an important step towards further strengthening of security of Tajikistan, Russia and the whole Central Asian region, “where new threats of the 21st century – terrorism, drug trafficking, and trans-boundary crime – remain intact.”
Russian parliamentary speaker noted that withdrawal of international coalition forces from Afghanistan would determine, to a considerable extent, the situation in the region. According to him, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Council would consider issues related to the current situation on the Tajik-Afghan border and in northeastern provinces of Afghanistan at a meeting that would take place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on October 8.
“The work on a package of important documents is nearing completion: the process of ratification of an the order of stay of Tajik citizens in Russia is under way, and work on a draft protocol to the agreement on labor activity and protection of rights of Tajik citizens in Russia and Russian citizens in Tajikistan is nearing completion,” said Naryshkin. “These two basic documents will regulate some aspects in the sphere of migration. These documents provide for several very important aspects — Tajik nationals will be eligible to obtain three-year work permits in Russia, instead of the current one-year work permits and they will be able to remain for 15 days in Russia without registration.”
On the humanitarian cooperation, State Duma speaker noted that “the core of our humanitarian cooperation is the Russian and language and the status of the Russian language in Tajikistan is very high – Russian is the language for interethnic communication here.”
“We are sure that the presidential election will b held in Tajikistan in a calm atmosphere, in accordance with international norms and Tajikistan’s legislation,” said Naryshkin. “We are interested in further development of Tajikistan. The people of Tajikistan have made its sovereign choice, and we will not interfere in it.”
Born on October 27, 1954, Sergey Naryshkin is a Russian official, politician and businessman. He has been Chairman of the State Duma since December 2011. Previously Naryshkin was head of the Administration of the President of Russia from May 2008 to December 2011; he was also chairman of the Historical Truth Commission in May 2009 until it was dissolved in February 2012.
Born in Leningrad, Naryshkin graduated from Leningrad Institute of Mechanics with a degree in engineering in 1978. In the 1990s he also graduated from International Management Institute of Saint Petersburg with a degree in economics.
