India and Tajikistan sign new pacts

Tajikistan, a key partner of India in the Central Asian region, signed several agreements with India for enhancing cooperation in various areas like health, education, industry, energy, labour, employment and culture. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon held talks on key regional and international issues and reviewed the current status of bilateral ties apart from deciding to elevate it to "strategic partnership" which will include cooperation in a wide spectrum of areas, including political, economic, defense and counter-terrorism. Both the countries agreed to enhance their trade and investment relations. MoU was signed between India and Tajikistan in the field of sports also. Both the countries also agreed to explore the possibilities to develop transport corridors. In an attempt to intensify developmental partnership, India has offered to undertake a series of development projects in Tajikistan. Reaffirming that international terrorism is a threat to global peace and security, the two sides, in their joint statement, condemned those who support terrorism those who aid, abet and shelter terrorists and held them as guilty of acts of terrorism as their actual perpetrators." The leaders also stressed the need to work jointly towards eliminating terrorism including exchange of information, data, financing of terrorism and related matters and emphasized the need for enhanced dialogue between security agencies.