DUSHANBE, May 27, 2009, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmon received visiting Kazakh Defense Minister Daniyal Akhmedov today morning. State and prospects of further expansion of military-technical cooperation between Tajikistan and Kazakhstan were discussed at the meeting. Tajik Defense Minister, Colonel-General Sherali Khairulloyev, also attended the meeting.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Tajik president, Kazakh minister that his country was ready to train military personnel for Tajik armed forces. According to him, a delegation of the Tajik defense ministry will visit Kazakhstan in the near future to prepare a list of disciplines it is interested in.
“Post-graduate study and institution of doctoral candidacy at National Military Institute within the Kazakh Ministry of Defense is ready to accept post-graduate students and doctoral candidates from Tajikistan,” Akhmedov said.
Sherali Khairulloyev told reporters that 18 cadets from Tajikistan currently study at military schools in Kazakhstan.
Kazakh defense minister noted that Kazakhstan and Tajikistan cooperate in the military-technical field both on a bilateral basis and within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Akhmedov added that he and President Rahmon had discussed issues related not only to the military-technical cooperation but also the economic cooperation between the two countries. “Last year, a two-way trade between our countries amounted to some 300 million U.S. dollars and over the first quarter of this year, it has amounted 80 million dollars,” he said, noting that President Rahmon had expressed satisfaction with the present level of trade and economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
Kazakh minister also noted that yesterday he met with Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov and Defense Minister Sherali Khairulloyev to discuss the military-technical cooperation between the two countries as well as visited Tajik Military Institute.
As it had been reported earlier, Kazakhstan’s Defense Minister Daniyal Akhmedov arrived in Dushanbe on a two-day working visit yesterday morning.
