DUSHANBE, May 5, 2014, Asia-Plus  – Tajikistan and Turkmenistan vow to boost bilateral cooperation.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov arrived in Dushanbe on May 5 for a two-day visit.

On the same day, he held talks with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon.

Speaking to journalists after the talks, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon noted that Tajikistan attached significance to expansion of bilateral cooperation with Turkmenistan.

He noted that Turkmen president’s visit would give a new impulse to further expansion of bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. 

According to him, they conducted fruitful and constructive negotiations during which they discussed a broad range of issues related to bilateral cooperation between their countries and exchanged views on a number of international and regional issues being of mutual interest.

Tajik leader noted that Tajikistan and Turkmenistan shared similar stances on all those issues that was a good political foundation for further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation.    

He said they had also discussed joint efforts to carry out a project to build a new railway connecting the two countries via Afghanistan.

“We confirmed that we will take more active efforts to implement the project to build a rail link connecting Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan,” Rahmon noted.

The sides reportedly also discussed the issue of regional security after the upcoming NATO-led multinational troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

It is the first visit by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to Tajikistan since 2010.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon was in Turkmenistan two times last year for talks with his Turkmen counterpart Berdimuhamedov.