DUSHANBE, February 10, 2014, Asia-Plus — Tajik and Kyrgyz groups to discuss border, military and border road use issues completed their first meeting in the Tajik northern city of Isfara on February 10.
A source at the Sughd regional administration says the next meeting will take place in Isfara on February 12. “The meeting results will not be made public until a meeting of the Tajik-Kyrgyz intergovernmental commission for demarcation and delimitation of mutual border,” the source said.
“The Tajik side is currently waiting for reply from the Kyrgyz authorities about the exact date of the next meeting of Tajik-Kyrgyz intergovernmental commission,” the source added.
We will recall that three working groups have been set up: 1) the group for military and border issues; 2) the group for the border demarcation and delimitation issues; and 3) the group for use of border roads.
On the Tajik side, the group for military and border issues is co-chaired by Sherali Khairulloyev, Aide to the President of Tajikistan for National Security Affairs, the group for the border demarcation and delimitation issues is co-chaired by Mahmadtohir Zokirov, Chairman of the State Committee on Land Management and Geodesy, and the group for use of border roads is co-chaired by Khairullo Asoyev, Minister of Transport.
The working groups came to a discussion of the mentioned issues in Isfara on February 5.
As it had been reported earlier, Tajik Prime Minister Murodali Alimardon and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Tokon Mamytov, agreed in Bishkek on January 31 that the two countries” working groups on border delimitation must expedite their activities.
Five Kyrgyz border guards, one Kyrgyz policeman, and two Tajik border guards were hospitalized with injuries on January 11 after tensions escalated into exchanges of gunfire along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border. The clash started when Tajiks protested Kyrgyzstan’s construction of a bypass road through a disputed area. Tajikistan has requested to halt the construction of the road until the border is delimited.
