DUSHANBE, January 5, 2016, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan and Uzbekistan held political consultations in Dushanbe in late December and the sides reached an agreement on holding Days of Tajikistan’s Culture in Uzbekistan and Days of Uzbekistan’s Culture in Tajikistan, an official source in Tajik government told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the two sides also reached an agreement on holding an exhibition of Tajikistan’s industrial goods in Tashkent and an exhibition of Uzbekistan’s industrial goods in Dushanbe this year.
“They also discussed organization of an official visit of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to Uzbekistan,” said the source. “Most likely, the visit will take place this year in the first half of September when Tashkent will host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.”
Diplomatic relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were established on October 22, 1992. The main document regulating the main directions of relations between the two countries are the treaty of friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation signed on January 4, 1993 and the treaty of perpetual friendship signed on June 15, 2000.
We will recall that Tajik President Emomali Rahmon held talks with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov in Dushanbe on September 10, 2014 on the sideline of the SCO summit. Both presidents declared for expansion of friendly and good-neighborly relations between their countries.
It was the first visit of Uzbek president to Tajikistan since 2008. In August 2008, Islam Karimov visited Dushanbe to attend the SCO summit. Rahmon and Karimov also held talks in Tashkent in June 2010 on the sideline of the SCO summit.
Tajik and Uzbek leaders meet rarely because of disagreements over use of regional water-and-energy resources.
Relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are currently strained because of the former’s plans to build the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP). Tajik authorities believe that the Roghun dam is solution to many problems Tajikistan faces today, including frequent electricity shortages during winters.
The Roghun HPP could generate both enough electricity to provide for Tajikistan’s population and enough excess to export to Pakistan, Afghanistan, or China.
Uzbekistan is downstream country and its authorities consider that Tajikistan will use the dam as a means of leverage to pressure Uzbekistan in the many political disputes between the two countries.
However, Tajik-Uzbek relations have begun to thaw after a long chill. Uzbek enterprises are reportedly seeking partners for cooperation in Tajikistan and a two-way trade between the two countries is increasing.
