AKIPRESS.COM - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Astana on June 9 to discuss carrying forward bilateral cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative and deepening their strategic partnership, official media report

China and Tajikistan are neighbors with close relations and strategic partners with high-level mutual trust, Xi said.  The two countries have maintained close high-level contacts, achieved fruitful results in cooperation in such fields as economy and trade, agriculture, infrastructure construction, energy and security, and coordinated closely under the frameworks of the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said the Chinese president.

Noting that the two countries have made important achievements in jointly building the Belt and Road, Xi said the next step is to promote such cooperation towards a high-end, innovative and diversified direction, Xinxua state news agency reported.

He urged the two sides to strengthen economic policy coordination and development strategy alignment, strive for new progress in connectivity construction, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and boost cooperation in such fields as production capacity, equipment manufacturing, disaster relief, defense, law enforcement and security.

China is willing to work with Tajikistan to carry forward the spirit of good neighborliness, strengthen strategic coordination and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, so as to lift the China-Tajikistan strategic partnership to a new height, Xi said.

For his part, Rahmon called the two countries "good neighbors, good friends and good partners," saying the Tajik side cherishes the Tajikistan-China friendship, values the important role of China in international affairs, and dedicates itself to deepening bilateral strategic partnership.

Summing up the two countries' fruitful cooperation since they forged diplomatic relations 25 years ago, Rahmon told Xi that his country stands ready to synergize its development strategy with the historic Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China, and boost bilateral cooperation in areas like connectivity, electricity, agriculture and security.