Tajik President Emomali Rahmon today received Chairperson of Russia’s upper house (Federation Council) of parliament, Mrs. Valentina Matviyenko.

According to the Tajik president’s official website, the two sides discussed state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the Russian Federation.

In the course of the talk, Tajik president, in particular, noted that Tajikistan attached significance to expansion of cooperation with Russia.

Rahmon and Matviyenko reportedly highly appraised the current level of inter-parliamentary cooperation between their countries and underlined the significance of the inter-parliamentary forum “Tajikistan-Russia: Opportunities of Inter-Region Cooperation” for establishment and expansion of direct ties between the regions of the two countries.

They also exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues being of mutual interest.

Valentina Matviyenko (born 7 April 1949) is a Russian politician who was Governor of Saint Petersburg from 2003 to 2011, and has served as Chairman of the Federation Council since 2011.  Matviyenko was considered, until recent years, to be the highest-ranking female politician in Russia.