DUSHANBE, August 3, Asia-Plus - India and Tajikistan on Wednesday agreed to further develop bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade, industry, agriculture, including processing of farm produce, construction, transport, education, scientific and technical cooperation and tourism, the Economic Times reported.

In order to widen trade and economic relations between the two countries, the Indian side has agreed to hold a meeting of the business forum of both the countries during the forthcoming visit of the President of Tajikistan to India in August. The Tajik side also agreed to hold a similar Forum in May 2007 in Dushanbe , an official release said.

The Indo-Tajik Joint Commission on Trade, Economy, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was signed here by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Special Secretary, G K Pillai on behalf of the Government of India and Minister for Economy and Trade of Tajikistan Hakim Soliyev.

Both sides have underlined the importance of establishing long-term cooperation in the field of industry and have agreed to make efforts to achieve this goal, especially in view of the great potential for cooperation in the manufacturing sector in textiles, chemicals, construction materials, mining and processing of light metals.

Possibilities of setting up joint ventures in the territories of both countries in identified areas will also be considered, it said.

Two-way trade between India and Tajikistan in 2005-06 was valued at a meager $12.09 million. This consisted of India ''s exports to Tajikistan valued at $6.20 million and India ''s imports from Tajikistan worth $5.89 million, it said.