Russia's Ministry of Transport has announced the launch of a new bus route connecting Novosibirsk and the Tajik northern city Khujand.

The ministry’s Telegram channel notes that this issue was discussed during "Transport Week" in Moscow, where negotiations took place between Russia's Minister of Transport, Roman Starovoit, and his Tajik counterpart Azim Ibrohim on November 21.

While the exact launch date has not been announced, it was mentioned that the route could start operating in the near future.

Meanwhile, the press service of Tajikistan’s Ministry of Transport reported that during the bilateral meeting, the ministers discussed plans to open additional bus routes between Tajikistan and Russia.

Azim Ibrohim, in particular, highlighted the importance of increasing the number of P-3 permits for freight transportation between Tajikistan and third countries and expanding border crossing points between Russia and Belarus for Tajik vehicles (currently, only one route is available: "Yezerishche-Lobok").

He reportedly also emphasized the need to resume railway service between Dushanbe and Moscow (currently, trains from Dushanbe only go as far as Volgograd) and to establish new international bus routes, such as Dushanbe-Moscow, Bokhtar-Moscow, Khujand-Kazan, Khujand-Moscow, and Khujand-Yekaterinburg.

The Minister of Transport of Tajikistan proposed that the Russian side consider reducing tariffs for the transportation of export goods and discussed expanding railway cooperation, including increasing the number of permits for Tajik freight vehicles.

"The parties expressed their readiness to continue cooperation between the Tajik Railways (TJD) and Russian Railways (RZD) on preferential supply and financing, including the procurement of innovative freight wagons, passenger cars, locomotives, road materials, and spare parts needed by the TJD," emphasized the press service of Tajikistan’s Ministry of Transport.

At the conclusion of the meeting, it was noted that following the initiatives of Presidents Emomali Rahmon and Vladimir Putin and the signing of important documents during the Tajik president’s visit to Russia last November, particular attention is being given to developing transport cooperation between the two countries.

During that visit to the Kremlin, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the Ministries of Transport of Tajikistan and Russia, as well as a Road Map outlining a plan for transport cooperation for 2023-2025 were signed..