DUSHANBE, July 29, Asia-Plus — In the first half-year of 2008, relations with the CIS states, first of all, with the Russian Federation, have developed actively, Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi remarked at a press conference in Dushanbe on July 28.
According to him, relations with Russia were analyzed during President Rahmon’s working visit to Russia and “we consider that the Tajik-Russian relations are currently at high level.”
Opening of Tajikistan’s Consulate General in Yekaterinburg is an important event, the minister noted, adding that honorable consulates of Tajikistan will be opened in a number of Russian cities before the end of this year.
“On June 6-7, President Rahmon took part in an informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg and he held talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on sidelines of the summit to discuss further expansion of bilateral cooperation between the two countries,” Zarifi said.
On the economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Russia, the minister noted that Russia remains one of main trading partners of Tajikistan: over the first six months of this year, trade between the two countries has exceeded $554 million, which is 39.4 percent more than in the same period of 2007.
He expressed confidence that the upcoming official visit of President Medvedev to Tajikistan in August will give a new impulse to further development of Tajik-Russian relations.
Zarifi said that a number of documents are expected to be signed during President Medvedev’s official visit to the country.
“Seven draft documents have already been prepared,” he said, adding that it cannot be ruled out that the number of those documents may increase.
Asked about the possibility of discussion of the Roghun hydroelectricity project during Medvedev’s visit to Tajikistan, the minister said that this issue is not scheduled to be discussed directly; however, it can be discussed during consideration of the energy cooperation issues. “In any case, we invite Russia to participate in a consortium for completing construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power station (HPS),” Zarifi said.
Asked about share Russia allegedly has in the Roghun station, he said that Tajikistan has not yet made any proposals to the Russian Federation on shares. “All these issues may be solved only during negotiations,” the minister said, adding that solution of such issues should be transparent and serve interests of Tajikistan.
