Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov has ordered Kyrgyz relevant bodies to take adequate measures to speed up the work on delineation of disputable stretches of Kyrgyzstan’s common border with Tajikistan, according to the Kyrgyz president’s official website, President.kg.
On Monday March 5, Jeenbekov reportedly received the chief of Kyrgyz border service, Ularbek Sharsheyev, and special representative of the Kyrgyz government on border delimitation issues Kurbanbay Iskandarov.
The meeting focused on the current situation along the country’s border and work on improvement of functioning of the border crossing points (BCPs).
Tajik-Kyrgyz intergovernmental commission for complex consideration of bilateral cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will meet in the second half of March to discuss the agreements reached during the talks between the leaders of the two countries.
Jeenbekov also ordered to take measures to accelerate the work on delimitation of the disputable stretches of Kyrgyzstan’s common border with Uzbekistan.
Recall, during his official visit to Tajikistan, Kyrgyz leader last month pointed to the necessity of intensifying work of Kyrgyz-Tajik groups on delineation of mutual border.
Jeenbekov noted that the government working groups should hold talks to finalize the legal framework for describing and tracing the line of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have been unable to agree on the location of the border they inherited when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. As the population in the dense Ferghana Valley grows, it has become increasingly difficult to demarcate the contested sections, where valuable agricultural land often lies.
The area at the focus of unrest among residents of border areas of the two countries lies on the jagged frontier where the east of Tajikistan’s Sughd province and Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region meet.
Skirmishes have sparked between residents of Isfara (Tajikistan) and Batken (Kyrgyzstan) districts along the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border.
The latest skirmishes sparked by a territorial dispute between residents along the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border escalated on August 4, 2015, leaving several people injured and damaging multiple homes.
