On the sidelines of the 15th Economic Cooperation Organization Summit, the Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon met with the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ashgabat.

President Rahmon stressed that Tajikistan considers Turkey an important partner in the international arena and noted that today the relations of cooperation between the two countries are stable.

The sides continued their discussion on further strengthening and expanding relations in promising political, economic, trade, investment, transportation and social spheres.

Over the past five years, the trade turnover between Tajikistan and Turkey has amounted to more than two billion -$2.14 billion.

Both sides stressed that joint implementation of investment projects and establishment of manufacturing enterprises in Tajikistan to explore and use the available opportunities can increase the trade turnover between the two nations.

Stepping up of activities of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation and the organization of the Tajik-Turkish Business Forum were also noted as important.

The counterparts expressed satisfaction with the assistance of the Turkish International Cooperation Agency (TIKA) in the development of key sectors of the economy of Tajikistan.

While discussing issues on the bilateral agenda in the fields of education, science and culture, the leaders noted the significance of people to people contacts, as well as the cultural and educational exchanges, and holding cultural days in each other’s countries.

Cooperation in the field of tourism was also named as a promising area of bilateral relations.

The sides also exchanged views on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The conversation also covered the joint fight against global threats and challenges, such as the fight against terrorism and extremism, drug trafficking, and transnational organized crime.