Tajikistan’s economic achievements will be showcased in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent during Rahmon’s state visit to Uzbekistan.
An exhibition of Tajik industrial goods, dubbed Made in Tajikistan, will take place in the Uzbek capital from August 16-17, a source in the Tajik government told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, more than 50 Tajik companies will participate in the forthcoming fair putting on display their achievements in production of textiles, food products, building materials, plastic goods, clothes, shoes, jewelry and so forth.
President Emomali Rahmon and his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev will visit the exhibition on August 17, the source said.
Recall, a delegation of traders from Uzbekistan that came to Dushanbe in April last year to show off their wares in Tajikistan caused a minor sensation. The fair that was held in Dushanbe from April 17 to 20 was the first of its kind since independence — a fresh signal of a potential thaw between the neighboring nations that have had a generally frosty relationship since the Soviet collapse in 1991. The goods on display at the Poytakht-90 trading house ranged from the small — everyday products like candy, fabrics, medicine and footwear — to bigger-ticket items like buses, cars, air conditioners and refrigerators. The fair served as a showcase for around 160 Uzbek companies.
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 on 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.
