Tajikistan's Foreign Minister Khamrokhon Zarifi said the country
highly values relations with Russia, China, and the United States,
according to reports reaching here Saturday from Tajik capital of
Dushanbe.
As a close neighbor, China is a good friend and reliable partner
of Tajikistan, Zarifi told an interview by the country's national
news agency Huovar that was published on Saturday.
Major road construction and electricity transmission projects
are being carried out jointly between the two countries, while
discussions on cooperation in transportation and agriculture are
under way, said the minister.
Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon signed a Tajikistan-China
good-neighborly cooperative agreement with China when he visited
Beijing early this year, which marks a big stride forward in
deepening and expanding their bilateral cooperation, he said.
On relations with Russia, Zarifi said common history, strategic
responsibility and traditional relations have linked the two
nations together and Russia is Tajikistan's largest trading partner
and they have carried a lot of cooperation in education, military
and other fields.
Zarifi praised ties with the United States, saying the bilateral
relations is growing. Cooperation between Tajikistan and the U.S.
has been carried out in combating drug trafficking, illegal trading
of weapons and some other new threats.
The aid from the U.S. has helped his country in improving its
security, investment environment, border defense and education
among others, he said, adding that the cooperation between
Tajikistan and the U.S. in Afghanistan's reconstruction is of
geo-political strategic significance.
(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2007)
