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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  India, Tajikistan ink pacts to boost ties
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India, Tajikistan ink pacts to boost ties

Manmohan Singh welcomed the resumption of direct air links from Tajik capital city Dushanbe to New Delhi

This is Rahmon’s fifth visit to India since Tajikistan became an independent country in 1991 after the Soviet Union fragmented. Photo: AFP (AFP )Premium
This is Rahmon’s fifth visit to India since Tajikistan became an independent country in 1991 after the Soviet Union fragmented. Photo: AFP

(AFP )

New Delhi: India and Tajikistan signed a raft of agreements on Monday, elevating ties to a strategic partnership as international troops prepare to leave insurgency-wracked Afghanistan.

The pacts, ranging from education, textiles, labour, health, sports and culture, were signed in the presence of Tajik president Emomali Rahmon and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This is Rahmon’s fifth visit to India since Tajikistan became an independent country in 1991 after the Soviet Union fragmented.

Describing Tajikistan—which borders Afghanistan where the Taliban have made a comeback and are battling the US-led international troops—as India’s key partner in central Asia, Singh said he and Rahmon had agreed that the nations should elevate relations to a strategic partnership “in view of the broad progress made in our bilateral relations, particularly in defence and security cooperation".

Singh said both countries had common concerns “particularly in the context of the security transition in Afghanistan", a reference to the imminent departure of international troops from that country.

Rahmon said he and Singh had “exchanged views on defence, technical and security collaboration with special emphasis on reinforcing ability to fighting terrorism, extremism and trafficking in narcotics".

India-Tajikistan cooperation on Afghanistan is not new. India had extended assistance to the former Northern Alliance resistance group—headed by Tajik commander Ahmed Shah Masood —in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001 when the Taliban were in power in Kabul. India has maintained an airfield at Ayni and operated a field hospital at Farkhor—in Tajikistan.

The Farkhor hospital has been closed but India is planning a new hospital in south Tajikistan for civilian and military use. Indian officials say Muslim-majority Tajikistan shares India’s concerns over the Taliban with unrest in northern Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province spilling into Tajikistan in recent times. Tajikistan and Afghanistan share a 1,400 km porous border and people of Tajik descent form a significant part of Afghanistan’s population.

“Tajikistan is important for India in the context of the post 2014 scenario in Afghanistan as well as establishing linkages with Central Asia," said C.U. Bhaskar, analyst with the National Maritime Foundation, a think-tank.

Singh welcomed the resumption of direct air links from Tajik capital city Dushanbe to New Delhi. “We agreed to explore the possibility of establishing transport corridors including rail lines in cooperation with other countries of the region," Singh said, referring to plans to join hands with Iran and other countries to develop overland routes to Afghanistan and Central Asia, which is rich in minerals.

Singh said India would be sending a business delegation to explore investment opportunities in free economic zones in Tajikistan, especially in information technology, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, textiles, leather goods and mining. The Tajik president added tourism and energy to the list proposed by Singh for forming joint ventures.

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Published: 03 Sep 2012, 11:21 PM IST
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