DUSHANBE, July 11, 2009, Asia-Plus — Latvian President Valdis Zatlers is arriving in Tajikistan today morning on an official three-day visit, according to the MFA information department.
During his stay in Tajikistan, President Zatlers will hold talks with his Tajik counterpart, President Emomali Rahmon, and some other high-ranking Tajik state officials as well as will visit the city of Khujand, the capital of Sughd province. The sides are expected to sign a number of bilateral cooperation documents.
A group of Latvian entrepreneurs are accompanying Zatlers on his visit to Tajikistan and they will take part at a business forum in Dushanbe, the information department said.
We will recall that President Rahmon paid a state visit to Latvia on February 9 this year. Rahmon’s visit to Latvia resulted in singing of five bilateral documents, including a joint statement by the presidents, an agreement on avoiding double taxation and tax evasion regarding income and capital taxes, a protocol of cooperation between the foreign ministers of the two countries, an agreement on aerial communication between Tajikistan and Latvia, and a cooperation agreement between the Tajik and Latvian chambers of commerce and industry (CCIs).
Latvia and Tajikistan established diplomatic relations on May 11, 1994. The diplomatic cooperation between the two countries is carried out mainly through participation in international organizations. Tajikistan has not yet appointed its diplomatic representative to Latvia, whereas on April, 2007, Igors Apotkins was appointed the Latvian Ambassador to Tajikistan, although he is residing in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The economic cooperation with Tajikistan has not been very active so far, therefore closer ties between the two countries would open up new markets for the entrepreneurs, which have expressed interest about cooperation in such sectors as industrial production, energy, tourism, agriculture, construction, transport and logistics, banking, insurance and financial services.
