— Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev offered that olive branch and much more during his historic trip to Dushanbe, according to EurasiaNet.org.
In the boldest signal of bilateral amity to date, Uzbekistan’s president announced during a seminal visit to Tajikistan on March 9 that he intends to support the major hydropower project that has been a source of tension between the two nations.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev told his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon that Uzbekistan is willing to get involved across the board in the Tajik hydroelectric sector. Construction work on the highly contentious giant Roghun Dam is now underway and according to optimistic Tajik estimates should begin to generate power as early as the end of this year.
Both presidents noted in a joint statement to the media in Dushanbe that Tajikistan's hydroelectric facilities could benefit the entire region. That marks a monumental change to the tone adopted under the late Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, who was aggressively opposed to Roghun project, describing it as a threat to his downstream nation’s security.
