Amir's visit to Dushanbe reflects Qatar's interest in strengthening ties with Tajikistan: Qatari envoy

HE the Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Republic of Tajikistan Mubarak bin Abdurrahman Al Nasr stressed that the visit of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to Dushanbe carries an economic and commercial dimension, and reflects the interest that Qatar attaches to developing cooperation relations with Tajikistan.In an interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA), HE Al Nasr said that the visit of His Highness the Amir emphasises the strength of the bilateral relations between the two countries and people, as they went through two basic stages. The first was the stage of forming relations and their beginning in the 90s. This stage, which began on Dec. 13, 1994, was characterized by major movements in relations due to the civil war in Tajikistan and the stage of reconstruction after it.The second stage was that of development and improvement since 2007 when the leaders of the two countries exchanged official visits and the President of Tajikistan visited Qatar in May 2007, followed by His Highness the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani's visit to Tajikistan in August of the same year. His visit was considered historic, as he was the first leader of an Arab country to visit Tajikistan.HE Al Nasr said that the development of the relations between the two countries led to the opening of the Qatari embassy in Tajikistan in 2012, and the Tajik embassy in Qatar in 2013. He added that the Tajik President visited Qatar in 2017, while His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani visited Tajikistan in 2019, noting that the two visits led to the signing of 16 agreements in several political, economic, social fields.He explained that the bilateral relations between the two countries include parliamentary relations, security cooperation and combating terrorism, as the State of Qatar supported international conferences on combating terrorism in Dushanbe in 2018 and 2019.He said that the economic and commercial cooperation between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Tajikistan resulted in the Grand Mosque project, with Qatari support amounting to about 100 million US dollars, and the Diar Dushanbe project, at a cost of 300 million US dollars.The Ambassador revealed that the visit of His Highness the Amir to Tajikistan will witness the signing of a number of agreements, including an agreement in the field of agriculture and food security, an agreement in the field of standards, certification and commercial control, and a MoU in the field of protecting endangered wildlife.He pointed out that there are promising investment opportunities in several areas in the Republic of Tajikistan. The most important of which is the energy sector; Being rich in water resources, agriculture and mining, Qatari investors can take advantage of that.HE Al Nasr stressed, at the end of his interview with QNA, that the visit of His Highness the Amir will advance bilateral relations and open new areas of cooperation between the two countries, noting that the relations between the two countries were and will remain distinguished in their Asian environs, as they connects two important regions in the Islamic world, namely the Middle East region, the Arabian Gulf region, and the Central Asian region.