6 December

Today in Vilnius Foreign Minister Urmas Paet spoke to Foreign Minister of Tajikistan Hamrohon Zarifi about the Aleksei Rudenko situation and opportunities to develop bilateral relations. “Today the situation has been resolved and the Estonian citizen is free. The fact that the Tajik authorities were willing to co-operate helped to resolve the situation and made our work in aiding our citizen easier,” said Paet.

Tajik Foreign Minister Zarifi recognised Estonia’s readiness to co-operate and be reasonable, which led to the resolution of the situation.

Paet and Zarifi also spoke about opportunities to further develop the relations between Estonia and Tajikistan. Foreign Minister Paet stated that political and economic ties with Tajikistan should be intensified and the agreement base should be expanded. “We would like to conclude an agreement for the protection of investments with Tajikistan, and we remain interested in moving forward with concluding a prisoner extradition agreement,” he said.

Paet stated that Tajikistan is also an important partner to Europe when it comes to resolving the situation in Afghanistan. “Estonia feels it is important for Tajikistan to continue with its reform process and supports advancements in European Union-Tajikistan development co-operation,” he added.

Foreign Minister Paet noted that Estonia’s reform experiences in building up a state could also be useful to Tajikistan. “We are ready to share with Tajikistan our experiences with using information technology solutions for public services, and the first contacts in the IT sector have already been found through the e-Governance Academy. Tajikistan’s young diplomats could also participate in courses at the Estonian School of Diplomacy,” he added.

Paet called on Tajikistan to join the World Trade Organisation.

Estonia recently named its ambassador residing in Astana as ambassador to Tajikistan as well.