DUSHANBE, August 19, 2010, Asia-Plus — Tajik leader Emomali Rahmon has offered the heads of state of Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan to sign a joint document on fighting terrorism, Russia’s Itar-Tass reported on August 18.
He remarked this on Wednesday during a quadrilateral meeting of the heads of state of Russia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Sochi.
President Emomali Rahmon, in particular, noted that these countries (Pakistan and Afghanistan) played an important role in providing security and sustainable development in the region. “The threat of international terrorism is real and requires consolidation of efforts,” he stressed.
“We are for creating of a collective front of war on terrorism and removal of factors that enable terrorism to emerge,” said the Tajik leader, “The reasons for emergence of terrorism are well known – these are poverty, unemployment and other social problems.”
By signing the document on the joint fight against terrorism we could enter the new level of interaction, Rahmon stressed.
The quadrilateral meeting in Sochi centered on issues related to regional security, fight against international terrorism and higher effectiveness of countering drug traffic from Afghanistan.
According to Russia’s RIA Novosti, along with the leaders of the four countries Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko, director of the Second Asian department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Zamir Kabulov and his deputy Alexei Dedov took part at the meeting. Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi, State Adviser to the Tajik President for Foreign Policy Erkin Rahmatulloyev represented Tajikistan. Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, presidential adviser for national security Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Afghan Charge D’affaires in Russia Hafizullah Ebadi represented Afghanistan. Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, First Deputy Foreign Minister Salman Bashir, Deputy Foreign Minister Muhammad Haroon Shaukat, Pakistani Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Russia Mohammed Khalid Khattak represented Pakistan.
