Kazakhstan and Tajikistan vow to strengthen cooperation

The sides discussed the state and prospects of Kazakh-Tajik bilateral cooperation, as well as current issues of the regional cooperation and international agenda, the Kazakh MFA's press service said.

Idrissov noted that Tajikistan is one of the important political and economic partners of Kazakhstan in Central Asia. In this context he stressed the need to deepen trade and economic relations. The priority areas of bilateral cooperation is interaction in mining, nonferrous metallurgy, machinery, energy sector, light industry, transport and communications, as well as in agriculture.

An important mechanism for the development of new forms of cooperation is the revitalization of bilateral intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, the next session of which will be held in Dushanbe this year.

The two sides also discussed the situation in the water-energy sector of the Central Asian region. "We are convinced that cooperation in this area is possible only through the strengthening of mutual trust, ensuring transparency and consideration of the mutual interests of all countries in the region," said Idrissov.

In this regard, the Kazakh FM noted the significance of the regional integration process. "We will seek to promote the integration relations in our region. Central Asia has always been and remains a special priority of our foreign policy and our efforts will be focused on the development of these relations," he added.

The parties expressed satisfaction with the level and the content of multilateral cooperation within the framework of the regional and international organizations. In particular, the Kazakh Minister noted successful chairmanship of the Republic of Tajikistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and expressed confidence that Tajikistan's chairmanship being held under the slogan "Cooperation, co-development and co-prosperity", will bring a new impetus to the development and strengthening of the Organization. He also wished his Tajik counterpart a success in hosting in Dushanbe an upcoming meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the SCO in July and SCO Summit in September, where the meeting of the heads of the two states is planned.

idrissov expressed gratitude to the Tajik side for the support of Kazakhstan's candidacy for the non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2017-2018.

The foreign mnisters expressed satisfaction over the results of the talks and their hope for further fruitful cooperation between Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

An important outcome of the negotiations was the signing of the Cooperation Plan between the foreign ministries of the two countries for 2014-2015, which will strengthen political dialogue between the two nations.