DUSHANBE, July 12, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Money is not the essential thing for Tajikistan in the issue of extension of the presence of the Russian Military base on the territory of the country.

Sayfullo Safarov, deputy director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, remarked this at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 12.

“Money is not the essential thing for us,” said a senior expert from the Tajik think tank.  “We want Russia to respect our national interests.  We are interested in, first of all, the fate of our labor migrants living and working in Russia.  Besides, we are interested in reduction in the rate of export duty on Russian oil products for our country.  We also have other political and economic interests and we would like our partner to take them into consideration.”   

Sayfullo Safarov also denied report about a $300 million demand for rent as baseless.  “Tajik officials, including the foreign minister of the country, have repeatedly denied such speculations,” he noted.

According to him, the negotiations are going on and the issue will be solved in the near future “in the regular course of work.”  “There are no unsolvable issues in relations between our countries and the leaders of our two countries stated that recently,” the expert said.