DUSAHNBE, July 18, Asia-Plus — Visa regime between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan impedes expansion of scientific cooperation between two countries and Tajik researchers do not have an opportunity to exchange information and scientific works with their Uzbek colleagues, Academician Mamadsho Ilolov, President of Tajikistan’s Academy of Sciences, remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 17. 

Qurbon Kabudov, the deputy director of the Physical-Technical Institute, in particular, noted that because of the visa regime he had failed to attend international scientific conferences in Uzbekistan.  Kabudov considers that the problem is in relations between the governments of the two countries.

Academician Ilolov noted that last week, a group of researchers from Samarqand visited Tajikistan to study the problem of melting of glaciers in Gorno Badakhshan.  “We welcome cooperation in the field of science, and other authorities have not impeded Uzbek researchers’ work here, while this cannot be said about Uzbek authorities,” Ilolov said.