On Sunday February 11, Tajik Ambassador to Qatar Khisrav Sohibzoda met in Doha with Qatari State Minister for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi.

According to the Tajik MFA information department, the two discussed state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Qatar.  

They, in particular, exchanged views on issues related to addressing challenges and threats to regional and international security and the collective fight against terrorism and extremism.

Tajik ambassador invited Qatari official to participate in the High-Level International Conference “Countering Terrorism and Radicalism” that is scheduled to take place in the Tajik capital from May 3-4 this year.  

Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi accepted the invitation with gratitude, the Tajik MFA information department said. 

Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Tajikistan and the State of Qatar were established on December 13, 1994, and the Embassy of the State of Qatar started functioning in Tajikistan in November 2012.  In July 2013, the State of Qatar appointed its Ambassador to the Republic of Tajikistan.  Tajikistan opened its Embassy in the State of Qatar in December 2012.  In May 2013, the Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to the State of Qatar was appointed.

However, currently there are few substantive projects linking Tajikistan and Qatar. One is the Qatari Diar real estate company’s luxury residence complex the “Diar Dushanbe” and the nearly-completed monumental mosque in the Tajik capital.  The mosque aims to be the largest in Central Asia and accommodate 115,000 worshippers.

During his visit to Doha in February 2017, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his team presented their Qatari counterparts with a laundry list of potential investment and spheres of cooperation: from hydropower and water to transportation, agriculture, light industry, mining, and scientific exchanges.  The president also highlighted the country’s four free trade zones as open for Qatari business, and pushed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Qatar Stock Exchange and Tajikistan’s Central Asia Stock Exchange, established in April 2015.