Consular consultations between the foreign ministries of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan took place in Dushanbe on August 29, according to the Tajik MFA information department.
Co-chaired by Mr. Bahrom Kholnazarov, the head of Tajik MFA Main Consular Directorate and Mr. Ulfat Qodirov, the head of the Uzbek MFA Consular Directorate, the meeting reportedly focused on issues related to bilateral cooperation between the two countries and legal state of citizens.
The two sides also exchanged views on the implementation of international conventions and agreements and expressed satisfaction with the progress of implementation of those documents.
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.
Twenty-seven other cooperation documents including an agreement on strategic partnership between the two countries were signed during a state visit of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to Uzbekistan that took place on August 17-18.
Over the first six months of this year, the two-way trade between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan has reportedly risen 35 percent compared to the same period last year and dozens of cooperation agreements totaling more than 300 million U.S. dollars have been concluded between the two countries over the same six-month period.
