The next meeting of the Tajik-Uzbek joint intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation is expected to take place in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, in late March, a source in the Tajik government told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the commission will discuss state and prospects of further expansion of economic, cultural, scientific and humanitarian cooperation between the two counties.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry says Uzbek First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ilhom Nematov, yesterday received Tajik Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Sodiq Imomi.
The two reportedly discussed issues related to implementation of agreements reached during bilateral meetings of the presidents of the two countries joint events to be held this year.
Recall, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon will visit Tashkent on April 12 to attend the second consultative meeting of heads of Central Asia’s nations.
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have accumulated many problems after collapse of the Soviet Union. These problems caused the countries' relations to go into a deep freeze two decades ago, including disputes over water and borders. The two countries had had the worst bilateral relations in Central Asia.
Relations between the countries have become warmer after Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power in Uzbekistan in 2016. Mirziyoyev has said that improving ties with Central Asian nations is a major priority of Uzbekistan’s foreign policy.
Emomali Rahmon and Shavkat Mirziyoyev have met several times since September 2016 and in March 2018, Mirziyoyev made an historic visit to Dushanbe, where 27 bilateral agreements were signed in the fields of trade, economy, investment, finance, transport and transit, agriculture, water and energy, taxes, customs, tourism, education and science, health, culture, interregional cooperation, in the field of security and countering crime. One of the agreements signed in Dushanbe on March 9 last year after the negotiations was a deal enabling nationals of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to visit each other’s countries for up to 30 days without obtaining visa
Earlier in April last year, Uzbekistan's national airline resumed flights from Tashkent to Dushanbe after a hiatus of some 25 years. The air communication between Dushanbe and Tashkent was cut off in 1992 at Tashkent’s initiative and the issue of resumption of the direct air communication between the two countries has been raised at meetings between state officials of the two countries more than once.
27 bilateral governmental agreements addressing bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in industry, education, border security, agriculture and much else were signed during President’s Rahmon’s state visit to Uzbekistan in August last year.
