One more border crossing point has opened along Tajikistan’s common border with Uzbekistan bringing the number of border crossing points (BCPs) along the Tajik-Uzbek border to seventeen.
An official opening ceremony of the BCP “Babatag” connecting Tajikistan’s Hisor district and Uzun district of Uzbekistan took place on March 2.
“The ceremony was attended by Commander of Tajik Border Troops, Colonel-General Rajabali Rahmonali, and his Uzbek counterpart Major-General Ruslam Mirzayev,” Mohammad Ulughkhojayev, a spokesman for the Tajik Main Border Guard Directorate, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the BCP “Babatag” operates only in the daytime.
Before that, there were 16 BCPs along Tajikistan’s common border with Uzbekistan; nine of them have an international status. Twelve BCPs are located in the northern Sughd province and the remaining four BCPs are located in the southern Khatlon province and Tursunzoda district (central Tajikistan).
Uzbekistan had reportedly sealed the border crossing points along its common border with Tajikistan unilaterally in the 1990s.
Currently, all the border crossing points along the Tajik-Uzbek border operate regularly.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, ties between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan had often been tense due to disagreements on issues including borders, water, energy resources, and transit routes.
Relations between the countries have become warmer after Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power in Uzbekistan in 2016. Mirziyoyev has said that improving ties with Central Asian nations is a major priority of Uzbekistan’s foreign policy.
