On Tuesday January 7, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin received the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Ambassador Alice Wells.
In the course of the talks, the parties reportedly discussed the current state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the United States.
Muhriddin and Wells also discussed issues related to regional security, the peace process in the neighboring Afghanistan, countering terrorism, extremism, radicalism and drug trafficking.
Besides, the parties exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues being of mutual interest.
Recall, the U.S. Department of State noted that Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells will travel to Tajikistan from January 6-7 to meet with senior Tajik government officials to discuss mutual interest “in deepening regional security cooperation, expanding economic and energy connectivity, and growing people-to-people ties.”
Alice G. Wells, a career Foreign Service Officer, assumed her duties as Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia on June 26, 2017. She previously served as the United States Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; a senior adviser in the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau in the Department of State, as Special Assistant to the President for Russia and Central Asia in the White House (2012-2013); Executive Assistant to Secretary of State Clinton (2011-2012); and Executive Assistant to Under Secretary for Political Affairs William J. Burns (2009-2011).
From 2006 to 2009, Ambassador Wells served as Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at U.S. Embassy Moscow, and previously worked as Director of Maghreb Affairs and as Acting Director of Egypt and North African Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.
Ambassador Wells also served as a political officer at U.S. Embassy New Delhi, U.S. Embassy Islamabad and U.S. Embassy Riyadh.
The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, headed by Assistant Secretary Alice G. Wells, deals with U.S. foreign policy and U.S. relations with the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
