DUSHANBE, May 10, 2015, Asia-Plus — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Tajikistan on May 10 on a two-day official visit, with the regional power transmission project (CASA-1000) expected to be officially launched during his trip.
Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, Minister of Energy and Water Ali Ahmad Osmani, Attorney General Farid Hamidi, and the chief of the national electricity company are reportedly accompanying Ghani on his visit to Tajikistan.
On the same day, Ghani held talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.
According to the Tajik president’s official website, the two sides discussed a broad range of issues related to bilateral cooperation between the Republic of Tajikistan and the Islamic republic of Afghanistan.
The talks reportedly resulted in signing of two documents, including a joint communiqué and a government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Afghanistan on extradition. The extradition agreement was inked by Saymumin Yatimov, Chairman of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan, and Salahuddin Rabbani, Foreign Minister of Afghanistan.
Emomali Rahmon held a joint press briefing with Ashraf Ghani following their meeting.
Tajikistan and Afghanistan have good potential for further expansion of bilateral cooperation, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told reporters.
According to him, the fact that Afghanistan and Tajikistan share common language, culture and religion plays an important role for expansion of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
Ghani noted that the CASA 1000 Project would promote further expansion of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
“CASA 1000 is not only the regional power transmission project but it also a symbol of new relationships in the region and rapprochement between the countries of the region – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as India in the future,” Afghan president said.
We will recall that the $1.17 billion CASA-1000 power project is expected to be inaugurated in Dushanbe by officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan on May 12. It aims to export electricity from hydropower plants in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, President Rahmon noted that the fight against drug trafficking, which has long been used to finance terrorism, should be recognized as compulsory part of the fight against terrorism and extremism.
“While discussing issues related to providing regional security, we pointed to the necessity of the principled fight against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and other forms of transnational organized crime,” Rahmon told reporters after his meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
According to him, the latest developments in various regions of the world have shown that terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking have turned into the largest threats to the modern world.
While in Dushanbe, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is also expected to speak at the National University of Tajikistan.
