DUSHANBE, October 5, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Expansion of bilateral economic cooperation between Belarus and Tajikistan will be the focus of an official visit of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to Tajikistan that is scheduled for late October, a well informed source in the Tajik government told Asia-Plus Wednesday afternoon.

According to him, Tajik and Belarusian experts have already prepared a package of documents that will be signed in Dushanbe during Belarusian leader’s visit.

“The negotiations at the highest level will result in signing of the agreement on cooperation between Tajikistan and Belarus in 2011-2020, the program of economic cooperation between the two countries designed for 2011-2020, as well as a number of government-to-government cooperation documents,” the source said.

According to the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, a two-way trade between Tajikistan and Belarus in January-August 2011 has valued 49.2 million U.S. dollars, which is 57.7 percent more than in the same period last year.  This consisted of Tajikistan’s exports to Belarus estimated at 9.2 million U.S. dollars and Tajikistan’s imports from Belarus worth some 40 million U.S. dollars.

Meanwhile, Alexander Lukashenko was one of the first that congratulated President Emomali Rahmon on his 59th birthday today.  The Belarusian news agency, BELTA, reports that n his message of congratulations, Belarusian leader expressed hope for further expansion of bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation between their countries.