Tajikistan President to visit India this month

Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon will visit India later this month, during which both sides will look at increasing cooperation in the fields of energy, defence and security besides others.
Rahmon will be on a state visit to India from December 14 to 18 and it will be his sixth trip to the country.
During his last visit to India in 2012, the two countries elevated their bilateral relations to the level of a long-term strategic partnership.
Bilateral relations span cooperation in a wide spectrum of areas - political, economic, health, human resources development, defence, counter-terrorism, science and technology, culture and tourism, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The Tajikistan President will arrive in New Delhi on December 16 after visiting Kerala.
His official engagements will be on December 17, during which he will have meetings with the Indian leadership, including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Tajikistan shares a 1,400 km-long porus border with Afghanistan and has immense geo-strategic significance for India which has been providing military assistance to it, including supply of helicopters as part of counter-terrorism cooperation.
India has also developed the Ayni airbase near the Tajik capital Dushanbe, which provided it a foothold in Central Asia.
India had deployed its Army and Border Roads Organisation personnel to upgrade the airbase by extending its runway, constructing an air-traffic control tower and perimeter fencing around the base.