Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan agree to speed up settlement of border disputes

13 June 2023

The Kyrgyz and Tajik sides have agreed to speed up the process of delimitation and demarcation of the border between the two countries. Marat Imankulov, Secretary of Kyrgyzstan Security Council, said this in an interview with the AKIpress news agency.

 

"There is a preliminary agreement to speed up this issue. Our president has expressed his position and they (the Tajik side - TASS) are considering it. We have the political will to solve this issue. We hope they will consider it positively," he said.

 

According to him, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov and President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon discussed this issue during the meeting of the leaders of Central Asian countries and President of the European Council Charles Michel in early June.

 

Imankulov expressed hope that border issues on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border would be resolved. "We give real solutions of our own. Border issues are very complicated, sometimes compromises are needed, mutual agreement. We are ready to sit at the negotiating table and solve them peacefully," underlined the secretary of the Security Council.

 

The state border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is 980 kilometers long. Negotiations about its delimitation (determination of the state border with description of its course and marking on the map) had been going on since December of 2002. At present, more than two-thirds of the borderline has been defined and mutually recognized by the states, and the remaining sections remain disputed. Failure to resolve this issue has repeatedly led to conflicts involving local residents and servicemen of the two republics, including conflicts involving the use of firearms. The most recent occurred in early fall 2022, with more than 60 Kyrgyz killed in clashes.

 

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic world"

Based on materials from TASS