DUSHANBE, December 18, 2012, Asia-Plus — Tajik President Emomali Rahmon yesterday attended Tajik-Turkish business forum in Ankara as part of his official visit to Turkey.
According to the president’s official website, more than 300 entrepreneurs from the two countries participated in the forum.
Addressing the forum, Tajik president expressed satisfaction with the level of economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Turkey and stressed that a two-way trade between Tajikistan and Turkey valued at 600 million U.S. dollars in 2011. Fifty-three Tajik-Turkish joint ventures now operate in Tajikistan.
The forum reportedly resulted in signing of three cooperation documents, including an agreement on cooperation between Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Tajikistan and Turkey, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the State Committee for Investment and State-owned Property Management of Tajikistan and Coca-Cola Icecek A.S. (Turkey), and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Government of Tajikistan and Turkmall (real estate development company) on construction of the Family Recreation and Shopping Center in Dushanbe (the cost of this project is 50 million U.S. dollars).
Yesterday afternoon, Emomali Rahmon held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The sides reportedly reached an agreement on establishment of a Tajikistan-Turkey Cooperation Council. Rahmon and Erdogan will head this Council.
They signed the Kulob/Konya sister city agreement and a joint statement on establishment of the Tajikistan-Turkey Cooperation Council.
The Tajik president’s website notes that agreement signed during Rahmon’s official visit to Turkey provide for construction of three industrial enterprises in Tajikistan. A total cost of these projects is 122 million U.S. dollars.
Rahmon also attended the annual ceremony called “Seb-i Arus” that took place in Konya on December 17. The ceremony was held at the ‘Mawlana Cultural Center’ to commemorate the 739th death anniversary of the great poet and Sufi mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi.
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, also known as Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, and more popularly in the English-speaking world simply as Rumi (September 30, 1207 – December 17, 1273), was a 13th-century Persian Muslim poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic. Iranians, Turks, Afghans, Tajiks, and other Central Asian Muslims as well as the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy in the past seven centuries. Rumi”s importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world”s languages and transposed into various formats. Mawlawi is better known for his six-volume poem Masnavi which is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of both Islamic mysticism and Persian literature. In 2007, he was described as the “most popular poet in America.
Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reports the ceremony was attended by many dignitaries including the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and leader of the main opposition Republican People”s Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The ceremony ended with a performance by the whirling dervishes and a prayer which included verses from the Holy Quran.
