DUSHANBE, August 27, Asia-Plus – On Friday August 24, Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov, heading Tajik delegation to participate in Days of Tajik Culture in Kazakhstan that will conclude on August 28, met in Astana with his Kazakh counterpart, Prime Minister Karim Masimov to discuss cooperation issues.
Kazinfrom, in particular, reported that the sides had discussed issues related to Kazakhstan’s investments in Tajikistan’s economy, launch of joint mining ventures in the territory of Tajikistan as well as preparation of Kazakh president’s official visit to Tajikistan, scheduled for the next month.
During the meeting it was also noted that a two-trade between Kazakhstan and Tajikistan had increased. According to some Kazakh news agency, Tajik prime minister noted that Tajikistan is ready to supply electrical power to Kazakhstan in summer.
Speaking to journalists after a meeting with Masimov, Oqilov said, “To promote further development we have to integrate, use our resources not only for the good of Tajikistan but also for the good of the Central Asian region as a whole.”
According to Tajik prime minister, upon completion of construction of the Sangtuda-1 power plant on the Vakhsh River, Tajikistan will be able to supply up to 2.5 billion kWh of electricity to Kazakhstan in the summer period. “To provide this, we have started construction of the power grid South-North in order to connect this power-transmission line to power-supply system of southern Kazakhstan in the future,” Oqilov was cited as saying.
Tajik prime minister outlined rational use of water and energy resources as one of priorities of regional cooperation in Central Asia.
Tajikistan is eighth place in the world in the reserves of water and power resources, which are 527bn kWh per annum.
