DUSHANBE
, July 27, Asia-Plus – On Thursday July 27, Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov and his Afghan counterpart, President Hamid Karzai, signed in
Dushanbe
a joint communiqu?.
Leaders of
Tajikistan
and
Afghanistan
also signed an agreement on return of inmates.
Speaking to journalists, Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov noted that it was the first document of its kind between the two countries and it did not provide for exchange of inmates between the two countries.
“Everything now depends on further negotiations,” said Tajik FM, “We have just opened the path, and the agreement will allow simplifying the negotiating process.”
Afghan Ambassador to Tajikistan Said Muhammad Khairkhoh told journalists that at present some 150 Afghan were serving their sentences in
Tajikistan
. The majority of them are doing their time in prison for drug trafficking, according to him. “There are no official data about Tajik inmates in Afghan prisons,” Afghan diplomat said.
Today’s meeting of Rahmonov and Karzai in
Dushanbe
also resulted in signing of two agreements on cooperation in the field of education.
Following the documents-signing ceremony, President Rahmonov told journalists that those documents would allow training personnel for
Afghanistan
at Tajik higher educational institutions.
According to him, in the course of the talks they considered issues related to bilateral cooperation between
Tajikistan
and
Afghanistan
in the areas such as energy, commerce, transportation, as well as combating drug trafficking. He added that they had also discussed some regional issues being of mutual interest.
