DUSHANBE, September 4, 2014, Asia-Plus — The construction of road connecting the Tajik northern city of Isfara and Vorukh, Tajikistan’s exclave inside Kyrgyzstan, officially commenced on September 4, according to the Sughd regional administration.
An official source at the Sughd regional administration says this road will bypass the Kyrgyz village of Aksai.
According to him, Tajik Deputy Prime Minister Murodali Alimardon, Presidential Advisor on National Security Sherali Khairulloyev, Sughd Governor Abdurahmon Qodiri as well as Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Abdyrakhman Mamataliyev and heads of Kyrgyz border districts attended the ceremony.
At the same time, the Kyrgyz side began to construct the Koktash-Aksai-Tamdyk-Kishemish road that will bypass the Tajik village of Tojikon, the source added.
Local experts hope that the roads will mitigate border problems existing between the two countries.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have been locked in a tense border disputed for months around Vorukh, which is part of Tajikistan, but due to past redrawing of borders, it exists as an exclave some 20 kilometers inside Kyrgyzstan.
We will recall that Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan held border talks in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on August 26, a day after a shooting left two Tajiks dead and five injured. The talks reportedly focused on the 46 percent of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border that needs to be demarcated.
Besides, border guard officials from the two countries held separate talks in Kyrgyzstan”s Batken region and adjacent Tajik territory.
Shooting incidents along the border earlier this year injured several Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards.
