Acting State Secretary Astra Kurme meets Ambassador of Tajikistan to Latvia

On 20 September, Acting State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry Astra Kurme met with the Ambassador of Tajikistan to Latvia Kozidavlat Koimdodov as part of his accreditation visit. This is the first accreditation in Latvia of an ambassador of Tajikistan. 

During the meeting, the parties exchanged opinions on the current developments in Latvia-Tajikistan bilateral relations. Acting State Secretary Kurme expressed Latvia’s interest in developing cooperation with Tajikistan and other countries in the Central Asian region. The year 2009 was especially dynamic in the relations between both countries due to the exchange of visits by Latvian and Tajik Presidents.

At the same time, Latvia supports the development of the EU-Tajikistan relations on the basis of the EU Strategy for Central Asia adopted in 2007. Given the topicality of security issues in the region and the fact that Tajikistan borders on Afghanistan, Latvia is also interested in Tajik experience in those matters.

Latvia is also interested in the development and expanding of trade relations with Tajikistan. Prospective areas for cooperation are pharmaceutics, food industry, information technologies, the production of building materials, as well as the sectors of transit and logistics, and education. The trade turnover between both countries amounted to 12.3 million USD in 2011; more than 90 joint Latvian-Tajik companies have been registered in Latvia.

Tajikistan ensures its representation in Latvia from Belarus.

Kozidavlat Koimdodov has been Member and Deputy Speaker of the Supreme Assembly (Parliament) of Tajikistan and the country’s Deputy Prime Minister. From 2005 to 2009, he was the Ambassador of Tajikistan to Turkmenistan, from November 2009 till present – the Ambassador to Belarus, and as from this year – also to Latvia and Estonia.