DUSHANBE, September 12, 2014, Asia-Plus — Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev proposed on September 12 to sign bilateral agreements on strengthening mutual confidence in border areas.
Taking into consideration the present realities, all the SCO member nations must implement agreements reached between them and take efforts to strengthen mutual confidence in the region, the Kyrgyz president said.
“I believe that strengthening of mutual confidence between the SCO member nations in border areas must become one of our priorities. I suggest that the Central Asian countries should sign bilateral agreements on strengthening mutual confidence in border areas,” Atambayev said.
We will recall that this year, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have been locked in a tense border disputed for months around Vorukh, which is part of Tajikistan, but due to past redrawing of borders, it exists as an exclave some 20 kilometers inside Kyrgyzstan.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan held border talks in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on August 26, a day after a shooting left two Tajiks dead and five injured. The talks reportedly focused on the 46 percent of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border that needs to be demarcated.
Besides, border guard officials from the two countries held separate talks in Kyrgyzstan”s Batken region and adjacent Tajik territory.
Shooting incidents along the border earlier this year injured several Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards.
