The Emir of the State of Qatar HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani arrived in Dushanbe on June 8 on a state visit, Tajikistan’s state-run news agency Khovar reported. At Dushanbe International Airport, HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was reportedly welcomed by Chairman of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower house of parliament) Mahmadtoir Zokirzoda and some other high-ranking Tajik state officials.
HH the Emir will hold talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and they will jointly inaugurate Tajikistan’s largest mosque in Dushanbe.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s The Peninsula said HH the Emir was welcomed upon arrival at Dushanbe International Airport by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sirojiddin Muhriddin, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Zavqi Zavqizoda, Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Tajikistan Mubarak bin Abdurrahman Al Nasr, Ambassador of Tajikistan to the State of Qatar Khisrav Sohibzoda, and members of the Qatari Embassy.
HH the Emir is accompanied by an official delegation.
Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Tajikistan and the State of Qatar were established on December 13, 1994, and the Embassy of the State of Qatar started functioning in Tajikistan in November 2012. In July 2013, the State of Qatar appointed its Ambassador to the Republic of Tajikistan. Tajikistan opened its Embassy in the State of Qatar in December 2012. In May 2013, the Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to the State of Qatar was appointed.
However, currently there are no so many substantive projects linking Tajikistan and Qatar. One is the Qatari Diar real estate company’s luxury residence complex the “Diar Dushanbe” and the monumental mosque in the Tajik capital.
During his visit to Doha in February 2017, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his team presented their Qatari counterparts with a laundry list of potential investment and spheres of cooperation: from hydropower and water to transportation, agriculture, light industry, mining, and scientific exchanges. The president also highlighted the country’s four free trade zones as open for Qatari business, and pushed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Qatar Stock Exchange and Tajikistan’s Central Asia Stock Exchange, established in April 2015.
On February 3, 2019, Tajikistan and Qatar signed a government-to-government agreement on regulation of recruitment of manpower from Tajikistan. Under this agreement, Tajik labor migrants can work in Qatar on the basis of a contract between employee and employer drawn up in accordance with Qatari legislation. The agreement reportedly includes the procedures and regulations of workers recruitment, in addition to the formation of a joint committee of the two sides to be held annually, to facilitate the recruitment procedures between the two countries.
