Tajik President Emomali Rahmon yesterday afternoon held phone talks with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev, according to the Tajik president’s official website.
At the beginning of the conversation, the parties reportedly exchanged warm congratulations on the occasion of the Eid ul-Fitr with the wishes of peace and prosperity to the Tajik and Uzbek peoples.
Rahmon and Mirziyoyev discussed the state and prospects of further expansion of the political, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation between their countries.
They reportedly expressed satisfaction with the high dynamics of deepening mutually beneficial cooperation in an all-round way between the two countries and expressed confidence that bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan would be even more filled with new practical content in accordance with previously reached agreements at the highest level.
In this context, Shavkat Mirziyoyev invited Emomali Rahmon to pay an official visit to Uzbekistan at a convenient time. The specific dates of the visit will be agreed through diplomatic channels.
The parties also exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues being of mutual interest, including the security situation in Central Asia, the Tajik president’s official website said, noting that the talks were held in an atmosphere of mutual understanding, mutual respect and trust.
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan 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.
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.
Emomali Rahmon and Shavkat Mirziyoyev 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.
Earlier in April 2018, Uzbekistan's national airline resumed flights from Tashkent to Dushanbe after a hiatus of some 25 years. The air communication between Dushanbe and Tashkent was cut off in 1992 at Tashkent’s initiative and the issue of resumption of the direct air communication between the two countries has been raised at meetings between state officials of the two countries more than once.
27 bilateral governmental agreements addressing bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in industry, education, border security, agriculture and much else were signed during President’s Rahmon’s state visit to Uzbekistan in August 2018.
