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Uzbekistan, Tajikistan to mull border issues

9 January 2018 15:43 (UTC+04:00)
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan to mull border issues

By Kamila Aliyeva

The delegations of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will discuss trade and economic cooperation as well as border issues during the upcoming meetings.

A delegation of Uzbekistan headed by Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov will take part in the meetings of the Tajik-Uzbek Intergovernmental Commissions for Trade and Economic Cooperation, as well as in the talks on the delimitation and demarcation of the state border in Dushanbe on January 10.

The Tajik delegation will be headed by Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda at these talks, a source in the Tajik government told Asia Plus.

The source also informed that Aripov will meet with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on January 10.

The Uzbek Prime Minister is also expected to discuss the preparations for the first official visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Tajikistan scheduled for early spring.

According to the experts, the appointment of the prime ministers to the positions of the heads of governmental commissions on the delimitation and demarcation of the border between the two states shows that Dushanbe and Tashkent pay special attention to the solution of border issues.

Tajik government has formed a new commission on the border issues with Uzbekistan in late November.

Thus, governmental commissions of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on the delimitation and demarcation of the border between the two countries will resume their work that was actually interrupted five years ago.

Governmental commissions on the delimitation and demarcation of the Tajik-Uzbek border were established in 2000. Since its formation, the Tajik commission was headed by the Secretary of the Security Council, the Uzbek commission – by the First Deputy Prime Minister.

Until 2002, the parties determined 84 percent of the border, and in October of that year the heads of state signed an agreement on the Tajik-Uzbek state border. The exchange of instruments of ratification upon the entry into force of the treaty took place in March 2009 in Tashkent.

Controversial issues for the remaining 16 percent of the border line were planned to be resolved during the talks in February 2012. One of the main disputable sections of the border is Farhad Dam, located on the territory of Tajikistan, built in the 1940s. However, five years ago, the three-day meeting of the sides ended in vain.

After the new president Shavkat Mirziyoyev took the office in Uzbekistan, the sides repeatedly declared their readiness to resume negotiations.

According to the State Committee for Land Management and Geodesy of Tajikistan, the length of the Tajik-Uzbek border is 1,332 kilometers. Of the total length, the river border is 105 kilometers and the land border is 1,227 kilometers.

An agreement on the delimitation and demarcation of a common border with a length of about 1,240 kilometers was agreed, signed and ratified.

“About 93 kilometers of the Tajik-Uzbek border remains controversial and this dispute will be resolved in the near future,” the head of the State Committee for Land Management and Geodesy Rajabboy Ahmadzoda said earlier.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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