36 cooperation documents were signed in Dushanbe today during an official visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Tajikistan.
The Tajik president’s official website has cited only nine of them so far:
– A government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the field of industry and new technologies;
– A memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan’s Complex Mining Solution;
– A government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on establishment of Tajikistan-Uzbekistan Investment Company;
– A protocol on making amendments to a government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan of August 17, 2018 on the allocation of land plots for the construction of the diplomatic mission of Tajikistan in Uzbekistan and the diplomatic mission of Uzbekistan in Tajikistan;
– A protocol on making amendments to a government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan of March 9, 2018 on mutual travels of citizens;
– A program of cooperation between the Foreign Ministries of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for 2021-2022;
– A government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on establishment of a joint-stock company, preparation of a feasibility study for construction and operation of two hydropower plants in the basin of the Zarafshon River
– A government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on transit of goods through the territory of Uzbekistan;
– A roadmap for the expansion of agricultural cooperation between the governments of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for 2021-2022.
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 2018, 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 2018.
