Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have exchanged trucks that were detained during the border conflict and remained on their territories, Asianplus.tj.info reports.
Tajikistan handed over to Kyrgyzstan five freight vehicles that were left on the country's territory during the border conflict. In return, Kyrgyzstan transferred four trucks to Tajikistan. The vehicles belonged to residents of bordering villages.
The transportation had remained on the countries' territories due to the events at the border in the fall of 2022 and had been idle.
The corresponding agreement was reached at a meeting between the authorized representative of the president in the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan, Abdikarim Alimbayev, and the head of the Sughd region of Tajikistan, Rajabbo Ahmadzoda. The meeting took place on December 25 in Khujand.
During the meeting, the parties also discussed the results of joint work in the border areas in 2023 and agreed to continue joint efforts to ensure public safety, prevent illegal activities, and avoid conflicts at the border.
As reported by the press service of the administration of the Sughd region, a plan of joint activities between the two regions in 2024 was signed during the meeting.
"The state authorities of the two countries, in implementing the points of the plan of joint activities between the Sughd and Batken regions in 2023, have used all necessary opportunities, as a result of which relations have significantly strengthened. The work will continue in the right direction: in the spirit of good neighborliness, creating a peaceful atmosphere, and mutual respect," the statement said.
As a result of intensive negotiations by the special working groups of the two countries on the demarcation of the state border, out of the total border length of 970 km, less than 200 km remain to be agreed upon. The working groups, created immediately after the armed conflict in the fall of 2022, are conducting negotiations alternately on the territory of the two neighboring regions of the countries—Batken and Sughd. According to statements by high-ranking officials of both states, the task is to complete the coordination of disputed border areas by spring 2024.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
December 26, 2023