DUSHANBE, August 18, 2010, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmon today morning departed for Sochi, Russia to attend a quadrilateral meeting being hosted by the Russian government.
According to the Tajik presidential press service, the meeting that is taking place in Sochi today will bring together the heads of state of Russia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to discuss the regional issues, particularly the present situation in Afghanistan. No documents are expected to be signed during the quadripartite summit in Sochi.
Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi and State Adviser to the Tajik President for Foreign Policy Issues Erkin Rahmatulloyev are accompanying Rahmon on this trip.
Emomali Rahmon (Tajikistan), Hamid Karzai (Afghanistan), Asif Ali Zardari (Pakistan) and Dmitry Medvedev (Russia) are also expected to discuss issues related to economic cooperation and providing assistance to Pakistan that had been affected by devastating floods, the source said.
During his stay in Sochi, Emomali Rahmon is also scheduled to hold talks with his Russian counterpart, President Dmitry Medvedev.
On August 20, Tajik leader will pay a working visit to Armenia, where an informal summit of the leaders of member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will take place.
We will recall that on July 30, 2009, the leaders of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Dushanbe. Rahmon called the quadripartite meeting in Dushanbe a logical continuation of the trilateral talks of the leaders of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan and expressed hope that rational use of rich resources and opportunities of Russia and the three countries would promote finding solution to many regional problems. The most pressing topic of the meeting of the leaders of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Dushanbe was security, with the Tajik, Afghan, and Pakistani presidents pledging to work more closely to combat the regional problems of terrorism and narcotics trafficking. The Afghan and Pakistani presidents accepted Tajik President Emomali Rahmon”s proposal to create a regional antinarcotics center. The three also vowed to speed up work on constructing or repairing roads and railway links to connect the three countries.
