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Government official: Cooperation in hydropower is Russian-Tajik priority area

DUSHANBE, January 25(Itar-Tass) - The sphere of hydropower is regarded as a priority guideline of Russian-Tajik co-operation, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told a news conference after a session of the Russian-Tajik intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation.

The parties have considered in detail all aspects of bilateral economic co-operation, he said.

“We regard the intergovernmental agreements we have signed as our mutual achievements, including the agreements on duty-free trade and on extension of registration periods for Tajik citizens for up to two weeks, alongside the agreement allowing Tajik migrants to be engaged in labour activities in Russia for up to three years and the deal on Russia's 201st military base,” Shuvalov said, adding that despite the agreement on duty-free oil product deliveries to Tajikistan had not been ratified, the Russian side was ready to make concessions.

As far as the agreements regulating the presence of Tajik citizens in Russia are concerned, Shuvalov said they refer to “preferential terms provided in the CIS countries (the Commonwealth of Independent States uniting former Soviet republics -- Itar-Tass) only to citizens of Belarus and Tajikistan”.

Shuvalov said “a decision was found” to almost all the issues discussed.

The next fourteenth session of the Russian-Tajik Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) for Economic Cooperation will take place in Moscow in the fourth quarter of this year.

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