DUSHANBE, July 4, 2012, Asia-Plus — Tajik President Emomali Rahmon yesterday received visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna.
According to the Tajik president’s official website, Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna handed over to President Emomali Rahmon an invitation from Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to pay an official visit to India. The visit is reportedly scheduled for September this year.
The sides expect that the visit will give a new impulse to further expansion of friendly relations and many-sided cooperation between the two countries.
In the course of the talks, the two reportedly discussed a broad range of issues related to political, economic, cultural and military cooperation between Tajikistan and India. They expressed satisfaction with the results of 12-year diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Over the past 12 years, Tajikistan and India have singed 35 government-government and inter-agency agreements and a solid legal foundation has been laid.
Five Tajik-Indian joint ventures now operate in Tajikistan and the Varzob-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP) is being reconstructed under financial support of India.
The sides, however, noted that there was a considerable room for expansion of economic ties between the two countries.
During the meeting, they also exchanged views on international and regional issues being of mutual interest, including the current situation in Afghanistan.
We will recall that Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna arrived in Tajikistan on July 2 for a two-day working visit.
