Mr President, colleagues, friends,
We are pleased to have President of Tajikistan Emomali
Rahmon here in Russia on an official visit.
Relations between Russia and Tajikistan are built on strategic
partnership and alliance, which are progressively developing
on the basis of the traditions of friendship and mutual respect.
I would like to note that our current talks with President Rahmon were
businesslike and constructive.
We discussed the entire range of Russian-Tajikistani relations
and reviewed important regional and international matters.
The Joint Statement adopted following the talks reflects our commitment
to promoting mutually beneficial cooperation and expanding
our interaction in a variety of areas.
We focused particularly on trade and economic relations.
Russia accounts for a quarter of Tajikistan’s trade and about one-third
of total foreign investment in the republic, specifically,
$1.6 billion. Trade is steadily growing adding nearly 25 percent last
year to reach $900 million.
Important decisions were made to improve mutual trade and investment
and to support and implement joint business and infrastructure projects
during the Russian-Tajikistani Intergovernmental Commission
meeting held in Dushanbe in March.
Russian-Tajikistani energy cooperation is going well.
Russia almost fully covers the needs of Tajikistan’s
economy in petroleum products.
Moreover, energy product deliveries are exempt of export customs duties.
The Sangtuda hydroelectric power plant that Russia helped build covers
over 10 percent of Tajikistan’s energy needs.
Currently, the possibility of the plant supplying
electricity to other countries is being explored.
Tajikistan is increasing its supply of agricultural produce
to the Russian market.
Last year, the country increased exports of food and farm produce
to Russia by 40 percent, and in January-February 2019,
by another 35 percent.
The increase was largely due to the benefits and preferences provided
by Russia, such as, for example,
a 50 percent discount on railway transportation of fruit
and vegetables from Tajikistan.
The agreements reached on a simplified customs corridor
and on the creation of a Russian wholesale distribution centre are
to further improve access to the Russian market
for Tajikistan’s agricultural products.
Good prospects are opening up for cooperation in the aluminium
industry, which is part of the backbone of Tajikistan’s economy.
Under an agreement that has been signed,
VTB Bank will assist the Tajik Aluminium Company in funding
the purchase of raw materials, and in the future,
the Russian bank may also be involved in modernising production
and improving product quality at the company.
I would like to note that in our country a lot is being done to ensure
that Tajikistanis arriving in Russia and their families have decent
conditions for living, studying and working,
and that they feel safe and comfortable.
This is important because about 1.
2 million citizens of Tajikistan live and work in Russia,
and the money they send home is a major source of support
for the country's economy as well as for their families.
I will also note that the Russian side is providing Tajikistan with
significant donor assistance, including through the Russian
Federation-UNDP Trust Fund for Development.
Last year, $7 million were allocated, and this year –
$4 million to help stimulate youth entrepreneurship,
expand opportunities for less secure segments of the population,
as well as assist in many other spheres of society in Tajikistan.
Mr Rahmon and I, of course, thoroughly discussed the state
and prospects of bilateral people-to-people cooperation.
We agreed to further develop contacts in the cultural,
research, and information areas.
The activities of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture
in Dushanbe, its branch in Khujand and the four centres of the Russky
Mir Foundation are already contributing to these spheres.
Our plans include opening an official office of the Russia Today agency
in the Republic of Tajikistan.
It is encouraging to see the high demand for Russian higher
education in Tajikistan.
There are a total of over 20,000 students from Tajikistan attending
Russian universities, with another 8,
000 studying at branches of Russian universities,
including the Russia-Tajikistan Slavonic University.
A total of 618 government scholarships were allocated to the republic
for the 2018–2019 school year.
Russia is also promoting the study of the Russian language
in Tajikistan. Today, we signed an agreement to build five
Russian-language schools in Tajikistan that meet the Russian
Federation’s educational standards.
There will be five schools open in five cities of the republic.
The pilot project for sending Russian teachers to Tajikistan schools
proved to be a success as well;
we talked about this during today’s meeting.
We are very grateful to our friends in Tajikistan for paying a great
deal of attention to this.
Today, everyone who have come to work in Tajikistan feels very
comfortable, most of them say they would like to stay
to continue working there.
In our discussion of international issues,
we noted that our two countries’ positions on key aspects
of the regional and global agenda are close or identical.
Russia and Tajikistan strive to coordinate actions in the integration
processes that our countries are actively involved in.
First and foremost, this regards the Commonwealth of Independent
States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.
We welcome Tajikistan’s desire to establish closer contacts with
the Eurasian Economic Union not only in terms of the economy,
trade and investment but also other areas of mutual interest.
Russia supports Tajikistan’s chairmanship of the Conference
on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia
(CICA). We will gladly participate in the CICA summit that will be held
in Dushanbe soon, this June.
Of course, during our talks Emomali Rahmon and I also discussed
the security situation in Central Asia,
including in the context of the challenges and threats emanating from
the territory of Afghanistan.
We agreed to continue strengthening our defence, military-technical,
counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics cooperation on both a bilateral
basis and within the framework of the Collective Security
Treaty Organisation. Both of us noted the importance of the Russian
201st military base in maintaining peace and stability in Central Asia.
Lastly, I would like to thank the President and our Tajikistani
colleagues for the productive joint work and to express satisfaction
with the good results achieved in the course of today’s visit as well
as in the course of our ongoing work in general.
On this note, I would like to thank our colleagues from both sides
for their efforts in promoting bilateral relations.
Thank you for your attention.
Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to once again express my sincere gratitude
to the Russian side for the invitation to come to friendly
Russia on an official visit.
Regular dialogue at the highest level allows us to not only
substantively discuss the current issues and prospects of our strategic
partnership, but also to thoroughly exchange views
on regional and international matters.
Following today's talks, an important package of bilateral
documents was signed.
Economic cooperation is the core of our partnership,
so special attention was paid to trade and economic issues
and investment cooperation.
Russia remains one of Tajikistan’s main trade and economic
partners today. Last year, trade between our countries grew by 9
percent exceeding $1 billion.
In this context, the further effective implementation of decisions made
by the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation
is especially important.
The Tajik side has reaffirmed the importance of implementing promising
investment projects in the real sector of Tajikistan’s economy.
We are focusing on establishing joint ventures in the consumer goods,
food and mining industries, as well as in transport and tourism.
We have presented a package of 50 investment projects to Russia,
which cover a wide range, including the areas I mentioned.
There are also great opportunities for cooperation in the fuel
and energy and agriculture sectors in Tajikistan.
Today we have signed documents on simplifying customs procedures
for goods and vehicles moving between our countries
and on the procedure and standards for phytosanitary control.
These documents build the legal framework for a “green corridor,
” thereby creating favourable conditions for the mutual supply
of goods, including environmentally friendly Tajik vegetables
and fruit, to the vast Russian market.
We also noted the need for the early completion of the preparatory work
for establishing a wholesale distribution centre
for agricultural products in Tajikistan.
Interregional ties, which are constantly expanding in geographical
scope, are another important element of the two countries’
economic cooperation.
As of today, about 80 Russian regions have direct trade, economic,
cultural and other ties with Tajikistan.
We believe it necessary to further expand and promote
cooperation in this sphere.
Today the economy in Tajikistan is developing steadily,
and annual GDP growth has remained at seven percent for the last 10
years, which is a good macroeconomic indicator.
We have set ourselves the goal to move our economy to an industrial
and agricultural development model in the next 10 years.
This will create new opportunities to develop mutually beneficial
cooperation between regions, in various industrial sectors.
Both sides have focused on cooperation in labour migration,
with the primary goal of regulating migration between our countries
and improving the living and working conditions of Tajikistani labour
migrants and their families in Russia.
Thanks to our joint efforts we have made marked progressed
in addressing pressing issues in this sphere.
It is noteworthy that in recent years,
the number of labour migrants entering Russia from
Tajikistan has been decreasing.
For example, last year about 480,
000 citizens of Tajikistan came to Russia for work,
which is 50 percent less than the peak in the first years of this
decade, when up to one million labour migrants moved to Russia.
However, there are still unresolved issues in this area
that demand our attention.
We have discussed further ways to promote bilateral cooperation
in culture, science, education and tourism.
I would like to note that the Russian information space covers all
regions of Tajikistan, which means it is part of our
information space, too.
Russian education and the Russian language are in an increasingly
strong position in our country.
Today, there are over 20,000 young people from Tajikistan studying
at Russian universities.
The Russia-Tajikistan Slavonic University and branches of leading
Moscow universities such as the Lomonosov Moscow State University,
the National University of Science and Technology MISiS
(NUST MISiS) and the Moscow Power Engineering Institute,
are successfully operating in Tajikistan as well.
In accordance with relevant Presidential executive orders
and Government resolutions, compulsory Russian language classes were
introduced in general education institutions starting from second
grade. Many pre-school institutions offer education in Russian.
Ten universities have Russian philology or Russian language
and literature departments.
The country has dozens of general education schools as well as hundreds
of classes that offer education in Russian.
Therefore, we are grateful that Russia is prepared to accelerate
the process of building five new Russian-language schools in Tajikistan.
We commend the results of our countries’ cooperation in the sphere
of countering global threats.
In the field of security, we closely cooperate to combat terrorism,
extremism, transnational organised crime and drug trafficking.
Tajikistan and Russia are natural allies on this front,
and we support further coordination of our competent
departments’ actions in this area.
Military-technical cooperation between Tajikistan
and Russia is developing successfully.
We are thankful for Russia’s continuous assistance in training
personnel for our armed forces and in strengthening Tajikistan’s
defense capabilities from the military-technical standpoint.
Tajikistan is taking measures necessary for Russia's largest foreign
military facility, the 201st military base,
to operate effectively.
The unique Okno [Window] optical electronic complex is
successfully carrying out its mission, too.
We view the presence of the 201st military base in Tajikistan as a key
factor in collective efforts to ensure regional security.
Afghanistan related issues are the focus of discussions
on regional security.
Events in Afghanistan directly affect the security level in our country
and in the whole region.
It should be noted that Tajikistan accounts for about 60 percent
of the former USSR’s border with Afghanistan, this is 1,
400 kilometres of the Tajik-Afghan border in difficult
to control mountainous areas.
The Tajik-Afghan section of the border is strategically significant
in terms of ensuring security in the southern border area
of the commonwealth. Tajikistan,
which buffers security threats from that direction,
makes a strong contribution to effectively countering them.
Experience has shown that the problems in this neighbouring country
have no military solution.
Tajikistan is interested in a stable and prosperous Afghanistan
and calls for peaceful solutions to its problems.
In this respect, we talked about further joint efforts to assist
in the restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan through
political and diplomatic means.
We had a substantive exchange of views on regional
and international issues.
President Putin and I called for stepping up our collaboration within
the UN, OSCE, SCO, CIS, CSTO and other multilateral
cooperation organisations.
Tajikistan is satisfied with the results of today’s talks.
I was very happy to use this opportunity to invite Mr President
to visit Tajikistan at his convenience.
Once again, thank you very much, Mr President,
and the people of Russia as represented by you,
for the warm reception and traditional hospitality.
Thank you very much.