DUSHANBE, May 16, 2009, Asia-Plus -- During his stay in Moscow to attend the meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi held bilateral talks with his Russian and Chinese counterparts on Friday, according to the MFA information department.

Zarifi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signed a program of cooperation between the foreign ministries of Tajikistan and the Russian Federation for 2009.

Bilateral economic cooperation between Tajikistan and China was a major topic of a meeting of Zarifi with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi.

In the course of the talks, the two welcomed the pace of implementation of agreements reached during Chinese president’s state visit to Tajikistan in August 2008.

Zarifi, in particular, said that Tajikistan was interested in adopting China’s sustainable agricultural practices for providing its food security.

The sides noted that compared to January-March 2008 two-way trade between Tajikistan and China over the first quarter of this year had increased by 78.6 percent that was evidence of positive results of bilateral close cooperation between the two countries.

Tajik minister noted that China was among three top trading partners and main investors of Tajikistan.  Construction of a 500-kilovolt power grid in Tajikistan with support of the Chinese government reaffirms that China is one of significant and friendly partners for Tajikistan, Zarifi said.

Zarifi and Yang also exchanged views on the ongoing financial crisis that has hit economies of both countries and discussed a number of issues related to the upcoming SCO summit.  They also considered some international and regional issues being of mutual interest.