As part of his working visit to Tajikistan, Russian Deputy Prime Minister in charge for construction and regional development Marat Khusnullin today met in Dushanbe with Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda.
Russia’s state-run news agency TASS reports that in the course of the talks Russian deputy prime minister noted that the bilateral trade between Russia and Tajikistan rose more than 18 percent in a year to December 31, 2022 and 13 percent over the first three months of this year “and has a stable upward trend.
According to him, the volume of accumulated Russian investments in Tajikistan’s economy has amounted to 130 billion Russian rubles and “more than 300 companies with Russian participation now operate in Tajikistan’s market.”
“We are sincerely interested in further expansion of trade and economic, scientific and technological, and cultural and humanitarian cooperation,” Khusnullin emphasized.
For his part, Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda noted that sectors like industry, energy, transportation, agriculture and education are priorities Tajikistan’s economic collaboration with the Russian Federation.
“We are glad that our views coincide in many respects. We are working during these days, our groups are working and we already have the practical results,” Tajik prime minister was cited as saying. The Russian Vice-Premier Khusnullin and Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament) Speaker Rustam Emomali, who is also the Mayor of Dushanbe, reportedly discussed the issue of the establishment of an analog of Russia’s Center for Gifted Education "Sirius" in Tajikistan.
Russian media reports say the purpose of the Sirius Educational Center is the early identification, education and professional support of children who have shown outstanding abilities in the field of arts, sports, natural sciences and technical creativity. Today Sirius is reportedly not only an educational center, but also a new technological and infrastructural environment that has changed the entirety of Olympic Park.
Meanwhile, the Russian government’s official website cited Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who is Co-Chairman of the Russia-Tajikistan Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation, as saying that “Russia and Tajikistan are bound by long-standing friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation, which is now on the rise. We work closely together in trade and the economy, as well as in the cultural and humanitarian spheres. We continue to cooperate in finance, transport infrastructure, industry and trade, including agricultural imports and exports. To increase trade, we continue developing the International North-South Transport Corridor. Russian-Tajikistani relations in education and culture are making great strides. I am confident in further joint productive cooperation."
According to the Russian government’s official website, Marat Khusnullin and Tajikistan’s Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda toured a secondary school named after Yuri Gagarin, which is one of Tajikistan’s five schools offering instruction in Russian and to Russian standards. The school was officially opened in September 2022 by President Vladimir Putin and President Emomali Rahmon.
“We highly appreciate the way the Russian language is treated in Tajikistan, primarily, Emomali Rahmon’s unwavering focus on this matter. We are grateful for the support in implementing projects and initiatives to expand the availability of instruction in the Russian language. These projects strengthen ties between our countries and friendship between our citizens,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.
According to data from the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, a two-way annual trade between Tajikistan and the Russian Federation over the first four months of this year has valued at 512.505 million US dollars. This reportedly consisted of Tajikistan’s exports to the Russian Federation estimated at 46.9938 million US dollars and Tajikistan’s imports from the Russian Federation worth 465.5112 million US dollars.
