A meeting of the co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, Marat Khusnullin and Prime Minister of Tajikistan Kokhir Rasulzoda
A meeting of the co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, Marat Khusnullin and Prime Minister of Tajikistan Kokhir Rasulzoda
A meeting of the co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, Marat Khusnullin and Prime Minister of Tajikistan Kokhir Rasulzoda
Dushanbe hosted a meeting of the co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation between Russia and Tajikistan, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Marat Khusnullin and Prime Minister of Tajikistan Kokhir Rasulzoda.
First of all, Mr Khusnullin thanked his Tajikistani colleagues for the traditionally warm welcome the Russian delegation received in Dushanbe, and passed on best regards from Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin.
“Russia and Tajikistan are united by partnership and allied relations based on the common history and friendship between our nations. We are sincerely interested in further strengthening trade, economic, scientific, technical, cultural and educational cooperation. In the economy, Russia is a leading trade partner of Tajikistan. Mutual trade increased by more than 18 percent last year, and by 13 percent according to the results of the first quarter of 2023; we see that there is a stable upward trend. The volume of accumulated Russian investments in the economy of the republic accounts for 130 billion roubles, and over 300 enterprises with Russian participation operate on the Tajikistani market,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Marat Khusnullin also noted that the Intergovernmental Commission was carrying out work to strengthen this positive trend.
“We suggest stepping up cooperation in industry, agriculture, food and the textile sector. We are ready to share Russia’s experience, technologies and expertise in such promising areas as the digital economy and e-services, transport infrastructure and logistics, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed.
According to him, contacts between the two countries’ entrepreneurs are expanding, thanks to the Ninth Business and Investment Partnership between Russia and Tajikistan conference on interregional cooperation, which was held in March during Mikhail Mishustin’s visit to Dushanbe, among other things. As Marat Khusnullin noted, hundreds of businesspeople took part in the forum, and contracts for the launch of new joint projects were signed.
He stressed that the development of traditionally strong cultural and educational ties was a priority. In the sphere of education, five general-education schools with instruction in the Russian language were built in Tajikistan in line with the decision of presidents Vladimir Putin and Emomali Rahmon. In addition to this, a new tourism project is being launched.
“Today is a very favourable time for increasing tourist flows between our countries. I believe that both countries’ citizens will be interested in seeing the rich history and cultural heritage, architecture and nature of Russia and Tajikistan,” the Deputy Prime Minister added.
The meeting participants also discussed in detail transport links between Russia and Tajikistan, the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor, and rapid shipping of agricultural products. The parties discussed the construction of an additional school in Tajikistan with instruction in Russian. Plans for the construction of the Mayakovsky State Russian Drama Theatre in Dushanbe are still in motion.
For his part, Kokhir Rasulzoda noted that relations between Tajikistan and Russia were developing fruitfully and there already were positive results.
“All the necessary conditions have been created between our countries: a permanent intergovernmental commission, a legal framework and other platforms where we can openly discuss all issues of interest to us. It is worth noting that, in our opinion, the priority areas of Tajikistani-Russian economic cooperation are trade, industry, energy, transport, agriculture and education,” the Prime Minister of Tajikistan said.
