The UN Secretary-General warmly welcomed the presidential signing of the State Border Treaty by Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on Thursday following decades-long negotiations, according to UN News Center.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres “congratulates the two countries on this historic achievement and commends their leadership, determination and political will to bring the decades-long negotiation process to a successful conclusion”, his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.

“The Secretary-General looks forward to sustained constructive engagement between the two countries to strengthen mutual trust, good-neighborly relations and a peaceful future for their peoples and the region as a whole,” Mr. Dujarric said.

The presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Sadyr Japarov and Emomali Rahmon, signed the agreement at a meeting in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, yesterday.

Closed since 2021, two checkpoints on the nearly 1,000-km-long Tajik-Kyrgyz border have now resumed operation, and flights from Bishkek to Dushanbe and Khujand are beginning today.