Jaishankar calls on Tajikistan President; discusses expanding bilateral cooperation

Dushanbe: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday called on Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon here and discussed expanding bilateral economic and development cooperation.

Jaishankar, who is in Tajikistan”s capital Dushanbe to attend the 9th Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference, also conveyed the greetings of President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to President Rahmon.

“Thank President @EmomaliRahmon of Tajikistan for receiving me. Conveyed the greetings of President Kovind & PM Modi. Discussed expanding our bilateral economic and development cooperation. Appreciated his assessment of the Afghan situation,” Jaishankar tweeted.

Tajikistan shares a 1,400-km-long porous border with Afghanistan and has immense geo-strategic significance for India which has been providing military assistance to it as part of counter-terrorism cooperation. India has also developed the Ayni airbase near the Tajik capital Dushanbe.

On the sidelines of the Heart of Asia conference here, Jaishankar also met his Kazakh counterpart Mukhtar Tileuberdi and reviewed bilateral and international cooperation.

“A good meeting with DPM & FM Mukhtar Tileuberdi of Kazakhstan. A useful review of our bilateral and international cooperation,” he tweeted.

The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process (HoA-IP) ministerial conference is part of the Istanbul Process – a regional initiative on security and cooperation for a stable and peaceful Afghanistan – that was launched on November 2, 2011 in Turkey.