DUSHANBE, December 12, 2009, Asia-Plus — Prospects of cooperation between Tajikistan and St. Petersburg were a major topic of a meeting of Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov with St. Petersburg governor Valentina Matviyenko that was held in St. Petersburg on December 11 on sidelines of the session of the Interstate Council of the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC).
According to the St. Petersburg administration press service, the two discussed the supply of energy and machine-building equipment produced by St. Petersburg’s plants to Tajikistan as well as labor migration issues.
A number of St. Petersburg’s enterprises are successfully developing Tajikistan’s market and St. Petersburg regularly provides assistance to school and hospital of the Russian Border Operational Group in Tajikistan, the press service said.
Oqilov and Matviyenko also considered prospects of opening of branches of St. Petersburg’s higher educational institutions in Tajikistan.
The St. Petersburg administration press service noted that a volume of trade between Tajikistan and St. Petersburg was traditionally low. However, compared to 2007, it rose 26 percent in 2008. The trade between Tajikistan and St. Petersburg practically consists of only St. Petersburg’s exports to Tajikistan.
