Working groups of the government delegations of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have reportedly gathered in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. to discuss issues related to delimitation and demarcation of disputable stretches of the mutual border.
According to Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry, the groups met in Tashkent on November 14 and practical issues of legal registration of the Uzbek-Tajik border were the focus of the meeting.
The sides reportedly also exchanged views on separate disputable stretches of the border.
The Tajik-Uzbek border is 1,332 kilometers, some 20 percent of which remain disputed; landmines are planted by Uzbek authorities in certain sections of the border.
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan introduced a visa regime in 2001, while no commercial flights have been flying between the countries since 1992.
There are 16 border crossing points (BCPs) on Tajikistan’s common border with Uzbekistan; nine of them have an international status. Twelve BCPs on the Tajik-Uzbek border are located in the northern Sughd province and the remaining four BCPs are located in the southern Khatlon province and Tursunzoda district (central Tajikistan). Only two BPCs having international status function – “Dousti” in the Tursunzoda and “Fotehobod” in the Mastchoh district (Sughd province). Uzbekistan reportedly sealed the rest of the border crossing points unilaterally.
The Tajik-Uzbek border delimitation talks have been stalled since February 2009 after Tajikistan rejected Uzbekistan’s proposal to give up some disputed lands to the Tajik side on condition that Tashkent will gain full control of “Farhod” water reservoir along the two countries border.
The first after a break of three yeas border talks between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan took place in Dushanbe on February 21-22, 2012.
On April 24, 2015, top border officials of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan met in the Tajik northern city of Khujand. The two sides reportedly discussed issues around protecting common borders in 2014 and ways of improving the processes of doing so in future. Those included prophylactic and explanatory activities among the population living in border zones; preventing illegal border crossing; upholding signed bilateral protocols on state border protection; and rapidly responding to conflicts, which must be resolved at the level of leaders in border zones via negotiations.
At the end of the meeting, the heads of the two delegations signed an agreement on efficient bilateral cooperation between the respective border services in 2015.
Meanwhile, a reliable source in the Tajik government says the sides plan to complete the border delineation process until the end of this year.
