DUSHANBE, July 31, 2009, Asia-Plus — A quadripartite meeting, involving the presidents of Tajikistan, Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, was held in Dushanbe Thursday afternoon.
According to presidential press service, the meeting was held in the atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding and four leaders discussed priorities and prospects of the quadrilateral cooperation.
The meeting resulted in signing of a joint statement, in which the Tajik, Russian, Afghan and Pakistani leaders, in particular, expressed concern about increase in drug trafficking as one of the main sources of financing terrorist activity and urged international community to take additional measures in cooperation with the Afghan government for a resolute fight against the drug threat.
Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan welcomed Tajikistan’s bid to take part in joint work whose main directions were fixed by the foreign ministers of these states at the end of June. “The parties welcome readiness expressed by Tajikistan to take part in work on the main directions fixed in the statements of foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Russia,” it said.
The four leaders acknowledged particular importance of expanding and strengthening mutually advantageous economic cooperation of their states and marked a need to consistently implement agreements reached at the previous meeting in Yekaterinburg.
They welcomed the statement of foreign ministers of their countries made in Trieste on June 26. They also marked the importance of commissioning the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power station to solve energy problems of the region.
The presidents put much emphasis on the development and strengthening of trade and economic relations between the four states and support activity at the national and international level aimed at contributing to the social and economic restoration and development of the region, the document said.
The presidents stressed “the expedience of an active involvement of Afghanistan in processes of economic cooperation in the region in the interests of restoring the economy and normalizing the situation in the country on the whole.
Besides, they expressed interest in participation in economic cooperation under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and urged the World Bank and other international financial institutions to boost assistance in the implementation of regional economic projects, including studying the possibility of rendering such aid in the CASA-1000 project.
