Putin Strengthened Strategic Cooperation in Tajikistan
Relations between Russia and Tajikistan have entered a new phase. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
On October 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, on a state visit. The visit will last three days, from October 8 to 10.
According to Presidential Assistant Yuri Ushakov, the visit program consists of three main parts: the state visit, the Russia and Central Asian States summit, and the Commonwealth of Independent States summit. Within the framework of the state visit, a number of important meetings will be held on October 8 and 9.
Putin laid a wreath at the statue of Ismoil Somoni located in Friendship Square in the center of Dushanbe and participated in an informal evening meeting with Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon. On October 9, the leaders of the two countries will begin official negotiations at the Palace of Nations.
The negotiations will be held in both narrow and expanded formats. The Russian delegation consists of more than 20 government members.
Among them are Deputy Prime Ministers Aleksey Overchuk and Marat Khusnullin, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov, and other high-ranking officials. The negotiations will cover political, security, economic, and regional cooperation issues.
In particular, migration issues will also be discussed, which is why Interior Minister Kolokoltsev is included in the delegation. At the end of the visit, the presidents will sign a joint statement on further developing strategic cooperation and exchange about 15 documents.
At the same time, on October 9, the Russia and Central Asian States summit will be held. This is the second time the summit is being organized.
Alongside the Russian president, leaders of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan will participate. The summit will discuss cooperation in trade, economy, finance, industry, energy, and logistics sectors.
Special attention will be paid to regional security issues related to the situation in Afghanistan and the Middle East. At the end of the summit, the leaders will adopt a joint statement consisting of more than 20 points.
On October 10, a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States Heads of State Council will take place in Dushanbe. Leaders of Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan will participate.
The initial part of the meeting will be held in a narrow format, attended only by the heads of state and CIS Secretary-General Sergey Lebedev. Later, during lunch, an expanded session will take place.
The meeting will discuss the introduction of a new “CIS+” format. This format will allow the organization to involve other countries in its activities in the future.
Similar systems are currently used in international organizations such as BRICS and the SCO. In his speech, Vladimir Putin invited the CIS leaders to the traditional informal meeting to be held in St. Petersburg in December, although the exact date is not yet known.
