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Updated: 26-Mar-2003 March 2003

25 Mar. 2003

 

President of Tajikistan visits NATO

During his first ever visit to NATO on 25 March, the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rakhmanov, called for closer cooperation between NATO and his country.

President Rakhmanov discussed specific proposals for future cooperation with NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson as well as key issues affecting security in Central Asia. He highlighted the fight against drug trafficking as a major threat and an area in which Tajikistan was looking to international organisations such as NATO for support.

He also suggested that NATO engage Afghanistan in a partnership programme similar to the existing Partnership for Peace as a means of enhancing security in Central Asia.

Cooperation between NATO and Tajikistan intensified in February 2002 when Tajikistan joined the Alliance’s Partnership for Peace programme.

Tajikistan is set to participate in a NATO-led civil emergency exercise to be held in the Ferghana Valley in April this year and is part of NATO’s Virtual Silk Highway project, which delivers satellite-based networking to the academic communities of Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Lord Robertson is due to visit Tajikistan and the other Alliance partner states in Central Asia this summer.

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