Tajik President Emomali Rahmon yesterday had a telephone conversation with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Tajik leader congratulated Mirziyoyev on his 61st birthday, according to the Tajik president’s official website.
Rahmon and Mirziyoyev reportedly also discussed state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and declared for further expansion of partnership between the two countries.
A special attention was paid to issues related to preparations for the first state visit of Tajik president to Uzbekistan and agendas of the forthcoming meetings, the Tajik president’s official website said.
The two sides reportedly agreed to use all opportunities to promote further expansion of cooperation between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, support joint business initiatives and contacts between the regions, and promote cultural and humanitarian exchange.
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon is scheduled to pay a state visit to Uzbekistan in the second half of August. The visit is expected to result in signing of an agreement strategic partnership between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and an agreement on completion of delimitation and demarcation of the mutual border.
The two nations have accumulated many problems after collapse of the Soviet Union. These problems caused the countries' relations to go into a deep freeze two decades ago, including disputes over water and borders. The two countries had had the worst bilateral relations in Central Asia. With the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev as President of Uzbekistan Uzbek-Tajik relations, as well as relations between Uzbekistan and its neighbors in Central Asia, reached a new era of potential. Mirziyoyev and Emomali Rahmon have met several times since September 2016, and in March 2018, Mirziyoyev made an historic visit to Dushanbe, where 27 bilateral agreements were signed in the fields of trade, economy, investment, finance, transport and transit, agriculture, water and energy, taxes, customs, tourism, education and science, health, culture, interregional cooperation, in the field of security and countering crime.
