China Vows to Further Ties With Tajikistan

China Vows to Further Ties With Tajikistan

Visiting President Jiang Zemin said Tuesday that China is willing to make concerted efforts with Tajikistan to deepen bilateral cooperation in all areas.

In his talks with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rakhmonov, Jiang said the maintenance and development of good-neighborly relations and cooperation between China and Tajikistan are not only in the fundamental interest of the two peoples but also conducive to peace, stability and development of the region.

"We are willing to make concerted efforts with Tajikistan to keep the good momentum in the development of bilateral ties and to deepen cooperation of mutual benefit in every possible area," Jiang said.

He said China attaches great importance to developing economic and trade cooperation with Tajikistan, noting that the cooperation featuring several successful joint ventures has been greatly improved in the past two years, despite a temporary drop in bilateral trade.

Those successful joint venture projects will serve as role models for long-term cooperation efforts, Jiang said, encouraging major enterprises of the two countries to take the lead in raising bilateral economic cooperation to a higher level.

Rakhmonov said he is satisfied with the development of bilateral ties while noting that cooperation still lags behind in economic and trade fields.

He then called for greater efforts from both sides to fully tap the potential.

Jiang arrived here Monday on a two-day state visit, the first ever by a Chinese head of state. He will also attend the annual summit of "Shanghai Five" nations, namely China, Tajikistan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Top leaders from the five nations started their summit process in Shanghai, China in April 1996.