India and Tajikistan today agreed to enhance connectivity between them including through the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and other regional transit arrangements to boost trade.
During talks between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Tajik counterpart Aslov Sirojidin Muhridinovich, both leaders reviewed an entire gamut of bilateral relationship including cooperation in key areas of security, defence and trade.
"With a view to facilitate greater trade and investment between India and Tajikistan, the two ministers agreed to work towards enhanced connectivity between the two countries including through the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and other regional transit arrangements," the External Affairs Ministry said.
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Significantly, the Tajik minister had yesterday welcomed India's interest in becoming the fourth partner in Pakistan- Afghanistan-Tajikistan trade and transit agreement.
His remarks came days within Prime Minister Narendra Modi had conveyed India's readiness to join the pact to Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani during his recent visit here.
In the meeting, Swaraj reiterated India's commitment to cooperate closely with Tajikistan in the field of security and counter-terrorism to ensure greater regional stability.
Tajikistan shares a 1,400-km-long porous 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 the Central Asian region.
Besides bilateral issues, the two ministers also deliberated on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
"The ministers undertook a comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation in political, defence, economic and cultural issues," the External Affairs Ministry said.
It said the ministers signed a new programme of cooperation for 2015-2017 which envisages regular and structured consultations on a range of bilateral issues, including consular matters, training of Tajik diplomatic personnel in India and enhanced information and media exchanges as well as regional and multilateral issues.
The visiting minister also held meetings with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
