President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan has several meetings in the coming days, his office said this week, following reports that the leader had not been seen in public this month.
Rahmon, 73, will meet Zou Jiayi, head of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, as well as Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev, who will visit Tajikistan, the presidential office said on Wednesday. Zou took up her job as president of the Beijing-based bank last month. Kosherbayev, who assumed his position in September, was scheduled to visit Kyrgyzstan on Thursday and Friday, media in Kyrgyzstan reported.
“Several other events are also planned with the participation of the Leader of the Nation, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon, which we will report on in more detail,” the Tajikistan’s presidential office said.
Rahmon’s Telegram channel showed video of him presiding over a meeting with law enforcement officials on January 28. But reports that he had not been seen in public since then stirred online speculation about his whereabouts and health. Similar unverified reports about the president have occasionally circulated in the past, in a country where the government tightly controls the flow of information.
Rahmon has been president of Tajikistan since 1994. His son Rustam Emomali is chairman of the National Assembly and would take over as interim president if his father is unable to serve.
