DUSHANBE, July 30, 2009, Asia-Plus – A trilateral meeting of the presidents of Afghanistan (Hamid Karzai), Pakistan (Asif Ali Zardari) and Tajikistan (Emomali Rahmon) was held in the government residency Pugus, Varzob district today morning.

Inaugurating the meeting, President Rahmon pointed out the significance of the meeting and expressed hope that it would promote further expansion of bilateral and trilateral cooperation between the countries.

In the course of the talks, the sides discussed the ways and means to enhance regional cooperation in trade, energy, communication and transportation.  They, in particular, considered the pace of preparation and implementation of the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA 1000).

We will recall that this World Bank-supported regional electricity transmission project will supply summer surplus power from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The project will promote creation of a regional electricity market by facilitating electricity trade between the energy-resource rich countries of Central Asia, and the energy-deficit countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia.

The leaders of three countries also deliberated on the challenges facing the region as well as discussed the upcoming presidential election in Afghanistan and considered some other international and regional issues being of mutual interest.