DUSHANBE, September 15, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Tajikistan intends to step up mutually beneficial economic cooperation with Russia, Tajik Ambassador to Russia Imomuddin Sattorov said in an interview with ITAR-TASS on September 15.

“Russia is Tajikistan’s strategic partner. We favor close economic cooperation with Russia,” he said.

Under the conditions of West sanctions against Russia and Russia’s response ban on products from Western countries, new opportunities open for Tajikistan’s exports to the Russian market, he said.

It is also necessary to enlarge the presence of Russian companies on Tajikistan’s market, the diplomat said, adding that 110 joint companies were already operating in Tajikistan, 30 were developing their small and medium business and more than 60 Russian entities were maintaining relations with Tajik partners, he added.

Commenting on results of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Sattorov said that ten documents were signed.

Tajikistan highly appraises prospects for cooperation with SCO countries and views energy and transport as priority areas, the ambassador said. Under discussion at the summit were construction of a gas pipeline, the largest in the region, between Turkmenistan and China across Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China across Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and operation of the second gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and Iran. Besides, construction of a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railroad has started, he added.