DUSHANBE, March 18, 2010, Asia-Plus — On Wednesday March 17, President Emomali Rahmon received visiting Afghan Minister of Economy, Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal.
Speaking to reporters after a two-hour meeting with President Rahmon, Arghandiwal said that he conveyed appreciation and gratitude of the Afghan people to the Tajik president for support for reconstruction of Afghanistan’s economy and development of its energy and transportation sectors.
According to him, they discussed joint projects for construction of a new rail link that will connect Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran as well as Tajik electricity deliveries to Afghanistan and via it to other countries.
The Afghan economy minister noted that trade between the two countries did not correspondent to its real potential and there was considerable room for expansion of economic ties. “I hope that the third meeting of the Tajik-Afghan economic commission that ended in Dushanbe today will change the situation for the better,” Arghandiwal noted.
He added that the government of the two countries must do all in their power to implement hydroelectricity projects on the Panj River that would promote development of Afghan, Pakistani and Indian economies.
We will recall that Abdul Hamid Arghandiwal arrived in Dushanbe at the head of Afghan governmental delegation on March 15. The Afghan delegation took part at the third two-day meeting of the Tajik-Afghan joint commission for economic and cultural cooperation that took place here on March 16-17 and met with a number of Tajik officials to discuss cooperation issues.
