DUSHANBE, November 17, 2009, Asia-Plus — On Monday November 16, Chairman of the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament), Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev, met with visiting British Parliamentary Group (a delegation of the British Parliament), led by Lord Viscount Waverley, Shavkat Saidov, an aide to the Majlisi Milli speaker, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, the sides discussed different aspects of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the United Kingdom, including inter-parliament cooperation.
Tajik speaker proposed to consider the possibility of allotment of student quota for Tajikistan at British universities such as Oxford and Cambridge.
For his part, Lord Viscount Waverley noted that he would do all that was in his power to promote expansion of cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries.
The sides also considered cooperation between Tajikistan and Great Britain in mitigating effects of the global financial and economic crisis, Saidov said.
We will recall that the British Parliamentary Group arrived in Tajikistan on November 14 for an official five-day visit for high level meetings with the Tajik Parliament and other key Tajik authorities.
According to the U.K. Embassy in Dushanbe, the delegation consists of three UK Parliament members: Lord Viscount Waverley, who chairs the UK-Tajikistan All Party Parliamentary Group, Mr. Tim Loughton, Conservative Party MP and Mr. Fraser Kemp Labour Party MP.
The delegation members have already met with a number of high-ranking Tajik state officials and they are also due to travel outside Dushanbe to familiarize itself with more of Tajikistan.
The objectives of the visit are for the British Group to familiarize themselves with the workings of the Majlisi Oli (Tajik parliament) and establish friendly and productive relations with their Tajik Parliamentary colleagues and to establish a basis for future fruitful UK-Tajikistan Parliamentary cooperation.
