BISHKEK (TCA) — Deadly violence has broken out for a second consecutive day along a disputed section of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border after Kyrgyzstan restarted construction work on a controversial road in the area, RFE/RL reported.

An official in Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry told RFE/RL that one villager from Tajikistan’s Vorukh exclave in the Ferghana Valley was killed by gunfire on March 14 and two other Tajik villagers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan’s Health Ministry says a Kyrgyz police officer was wounded by gunfire that was exchanged during the incident.

Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov’s press service says Jeenbekov and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon agreed during a March 14 phone conversation to push forward with talks on delineating their disputed borders and to launch a joint investigation into the shootings.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev and his Tajik counterpart Kohir Rasulzoda also discussed the border tensions in a separate phone call on March 14, the Kyrgyz government’s press service announced.

The violence came a day after a Tajik villager was shot dead at the same location during a clash between residents of the Kyrgyz village of Ak-Sai and the Tajik village of Mehnatobod.

The villager slain on March 14 was named by Tajik officials as 37-year-old Rafouddin Teshaev.

The main directorate of the Tajik Border Guards said 43-year-old Tajik villager Husein Hakimov was shot dead on March 13 in a clash that left 11 other Tajik citizens hospitalized.

It said the March 13 clash began when dozens of Kyrgyz and Tajik villagers confronted and threw stones at each other near the construction site.

Tajik authorities said violence escalated quickly and gunshots were fired after a storage shed of a Kyrgyz villager and a flour mill belonging to a Tajik villager were set ablaze.

Kyrgyzstan said one Kyrgyz villager from Ak-Sai was hospitalized on March 13.

Kyrgyzstan has been attempting to build a new stretch of road in the area for years, stopping and restarting construction work repeatedly while negotiators from the two countries try to reach a formal border-delineation agreement.

Tajikistan insists the proposed path of the road cuts through disputed territory, and that the road should not be built until a deal is reached on the exact location of the border.

Officials from both countries said that construction work on the road had, once again, been halted while negotiators discuss the situation.

Many border areas in Central Asian former Soviet republics have been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan meet.

KABUL (TCA) — The first shipment from landlocked Afghanistan through the Iranian Chabahar port has arrived in India, marking a new beginning of trade ties between the two countries, bypassing Pakistan, Sputnik news agency reported. The cargo arrived at the Mumbai and Mundra port on March 13 under the TIR (Transports Internationaux Routiers) Convention that enables shipments to pass through countries without being opened at borders.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — Kyrgyzstan is a faithful supporter and an active participant of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative and is ready to strengthen cooperation with China in various areas, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov said on March 13 during a meeting with newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Du Dewen, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

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TASHKENT (TCA) — The civil aviation agency of Uzbekistan on March 13 said that the country has decided to suspend Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9 aircraft into and out of its airports until further notice, after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

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ASHGABAT (TCA) — Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry reports that on March 12, a delegation of Turkmenistan headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Pakistan.

The Turkmen delegation was received by President of Pakistan Mr. Arif Alvi. During the meeting, a high level of cooperation between the two states in the political, diplomatic, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres was noted.

Special attention was paid to expanding the Turkmen-Pakistan economic partnership, including in the implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (TAPI) construction project, power and fiber-optic communication lines along the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) route, as well as the creation of new transport corridors.

During the meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan, a thorough exchange of views took place on the current state and prospects for the development of Turkmen-Pakistani cooperation.

The gas and transport and communication sectors were mentioned as priority areas for trade and economic partnership. At the same time, the head of the Government of Pakistan expressed strong support for the TAPI project, the construction of the TAP transmission line, and the creation of a new transport and transit corridor from the seaports of Pakistan to the international seaport of Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan.

Following the visit, the two countries signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Pakistan on the establishment of the Turkmen-Pakistan Joint Business Council, and the main conditions of the Agreement with the Government of the host country of the project of construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.

DUSHANBE (TCA) — The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe and Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry held on 12 March in Dushanbe a roundtable discussion with high-level representatives of the international donor community to raise funds for the successful implementation of police reform in Tajikistan.

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