DUSHANBE, August 14, 2009, Asia-Plus — On Thursday August 13, Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi met with UNHCR Representative in Tajikistan, Mr. Ilija Todorovic, according to the MFA information department.
The two discussed prospects of cooperation between Tajikistan and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) within the framework of a joint communiqué signed by Hamrokhon Zarifi and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres in Dushanbe on March 31, 2008.
Zarifi and Todorovic also considered issues related to expansion of cooperation in the framework of projects for integration of refugees living in Tajikistan and the present situation in Afghanistan. The also discussed a number of regional issues being of mutual interest, the MFA information department said.
We will recall that under the March 31 2008 communiqué the UN refugee agency and the government of Tajikistan have agreed to strengthen their cooperation and open the door for the integration of some 1,000 Afghans who have been refugees in the Central Asian country for up to 20 years. UNHCR and Tajikistan stressed that refugees who had been in the country for a long time could apply to the authorities ”for permanent residence as well as for Tajik citizenship. Some 1,000 Afghan refugees have been in Tajikistan since the late 1980s and the 1990s. They also announced measures aimed at making the refugees more self-sufficient. The communiqué said the two sides would jointly arrange and conduct training courses for refugees on professional and technical education, corresponding to labor market demands as well as to arrange Tajik and Russian [language] training courses for refugees and their children. They also supported efforts by UNHCR, working with international organizations, to improve health care and educational facilities used by refugees and locals.
