DUSHANBE, July 20, Asia-Plus -- Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov is scheduled to pay a two-day visit to China this week, according to the Tajik MFA information department.

This issue was reportedly discussed here on July 20 at a meeting between Tajik Foreign minister Sirojiddin Aslov and Chinese Ambassador to Tajikistan Fan Xianrong.

The two reportedly also discussed the main directions of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and China and further expansion of legal foundation of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Chinese news agency Xinhua reports Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov will arrive in Beijing for a two day visit on July 23.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kung announced on July 20 that Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov will pay an official visit to China from July 23-24 at the invitation of China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The foreign ministers of the two counties are expected to discuss a broad range of issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between their countries.

China is Tajikistan’s largest creditor.  According to some data, Tajikistan now owes more than 900 million U.S. dollars to China.

The China Development Bank (CDB) is expected to provide a long-term $500 million loan to the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT).  We will recall that a delegation of the CDB, led by Lu Tao, Vice-President of the CDB’s branch in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), was in Dushanbe in early July to discuss the details of providing the loan to the NBT.  The sides reportedly agreed to continue negotiations on this subject in the near future in Beijing.