Official website of the President of Russia

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President Vladimir Putin: Dear Emomali Sharipovich [Rakhmonov], dear colleagues and friends,

The President of Tajikistan and I have just held substantial talks in a restricted format, discussing practically the whole range of our relations one-on-one. The overall conclusion is that Russian-Tajik relations are developing positively and have good prospects. I am convinced that realising the agreements reached during this visit and during the process of its preparation will enable us to take our partnership to strategic level not just in word but also in deed, and this will have a positive impact on security in the region and will help develop the relations between our countries.

We have now put behind us the difficult stage of working together on reaching and taking decisions. We have succeeded in establishing a common position on complex issues such as settling Tajikistan’s debts to Russia. The Russian military base has now begun functioning.

Now we need to take energetic steps to move away from working together on reaching and taking decisions to working together on implementing them – work that must be systematic and dynamic. There is plenty to do here for everyone present today, for our colleagues from both Tajikistan and Russia. Given the particular situation in this region, the military-political area is one of the main components of our relations. Today, we will sign a whole package of documents that will enable us to give a complete international-legal basis to the Russian military presence in Tajikistan.