DUSHANBE, November 14, 2008, Asia-Plus — State and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Germany were discussed at meeting of Chairman of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Saydullo Khairulloyev and the German Ambassador to Tajikistan, Ms. Doris Hertrampf, in Dushanbe on November 13.
Muhammadato Sultonov, a spokesman for the Majlisi Namoyandagon, said that in the course of the talks Tajik speaker briefed German diplomat on history of Tajik professional parliament, as well as laws and resolutions adopted by it lately .
On the parliamentary cooperation, Khairulloyev noted that Tajik parliament now has relations with colleagues from many countries of the world, including Germany’s Budestag.
“Tajik-German group for inter-parliamentary friendship has been working for already many years,” the speaker said, highly appraising the results of Tajik MPs’ visit to Germany.
For her part, Ambassador Hertrampf noted that the embassy of her country has maintained business contacts and cooperated with Tajik state institutions and non-governmental organizations, the spokesman said.
Ms. Hertrampf also noted that international water conferences would be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan on November 17-18 and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in December and the Tajik side could also take part in those events, Sultonov said.
It is to be noted that the Almaty Conference “Water Unites – Strengthening Regional Cooperation on Water Management in Central Asia” on November 17-18 is organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Government of Germany, the Executive Committee for the International Fund for the Saving of the Aral Sea (EC-IFAS) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It is a follow-up to the Berlin Conference “Water Unites” on April 1, 2008, where the “Berlin Water Initiative” was launched by German Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The main objective is to assess short- and long-term challenges in the field of cooperative water management in Central Asia, in order to generate more coherent, efficient and better targeted action to address these challenges. High-level representatives of the countries of the region, the UN, the European Union, regional organizations and other members of the international development community are among the invitees.
