Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov just concluded a two-day visit to Tajikistan.
Rarely has the visit of one Central Asian leader to another Central Asian country been as welcome as Japarov’s trip to Tajikistan was. The two countries engaged in brief, but intense and devastating conflicts in late April 2021 and mid-September 2022, the only clashes between the militaries of the two Central Asian countries since the five Central Asian states became independent in late 1991.
Judging by Japarov’s warm reception in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, the worst of times have passed in Kyrgyz-Tajik relations.
A Year of Firsts
Japarov, who has been in power in Kyrgyzstan since late 2020, was making his first state visit to Tajikistan on July 8-9. Japarov traveled to Tajikistan in June 2021, nearly two months after the first outbreak of hostilities along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, to speak with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon about easing tensions along their common frontier.
That June, a meeting was hastily arranged as an exercise in damage control, not a state visit, and in any case, the talks between the two presidents failed to head off even worse fighting in September of the next year.
This first state visit by Japarov followed President Rahmon’s visit to the Kyrgyz capital in March 2025, the first state visit by Rahmon to Kyrgyzstan in nearly 12 years. During Rahmon’s meeting in March, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed the agreement delimiting the final disputed sections of their border, which both sides hope will end more than a decade of violence and destruction in the border area.
That agreement led to the first-ever summit of the presidents of the three Central Asian countries that share the Ferghana Valley. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev joined Japarov and Rahmon on March 31 in the northern Tajik city of Khujand to celebrate the agreement on all three countries’ borders and talk about future cooperation.
Pomp and Ceremony
Rahmon was at the Dushanbe airport to meet Japarov when the latter arrived on July 8. Tajikistan’s Honor Guard played the national anthems of both countries, followed by a 21-gun salute for Japarov, before the two presidents made their way to the Tajik capital to hold talks.
The two leaders also visited a Kyrgyz-Tajik trade exhibit and attended a concert featuring performers from both countries dedicated to “Eternal Friendship.”
Moving Forward
Ahead of the Japarov-Rahmon meeting, The Times of Central Asia reported that trade between the two nations is starting to increase again. The figure for January-May trade between the two countries this year was a modest $6.35 million, but that is 15 times more than the meager $405,100 of bilateral trade during the first five months of 2024.
Less than a decade ago, there were years when Kyrgyz-Tajik bilateral trade topped $50 million.
Following the border agreement in March, two border crossings were reopened along the western sections of the Kyrgyz-Tajik frontier. During the meeting between the two presidents, it was announced that a third crossing had opened, the Tajvaron-Karamyk post connecting Kyrgyzstan’s Chong-Alai and Tajikistan’s Lakhsh (formerly Jirgatal) districts. This area is far from where the fighting in 2021 and 2022 took place, but residents of this region were affected when the border between the two countries was closed.
The Tajvaron-Karamyk crossing is important for the people living in this sparsely inhabited, remote region, as connections to the rest of their countries are tenuous through the mountain roads. The ability of communities to trade in the limited goods of the area helps provide basic sustenance when snow, rain, or rockslides impede deliveries from reaching one or both sides of the border.
Kyrgyz and Tajik representatives signed 14 agreements during Japarov’s visit. Most were cooperation agreements in areas such as agricultural research, television and radio broadcasting, and tourism, or agreements on cooperation between local administrations, and the two countries’ health and labor ministries.
Rahmon and Japarov also discussed the creation of free economic zones along the border, which could greatly benefit communities on both sides financially and encourage positive interactions between Kyrgyz and Tajik villagers.
But perhaps the most important topic in their talks was about mining.
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are the two poorest countries in Central Asia, but that could soon change. Both countries have sizeable deposits of critical minerals in their mountains, and both foreign governments and companies are already looking into potential deals.
Japarov suggested coordination and possibly joint work between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in developing some of these sites, as well as in ensuring mining operations did not cause environmental damage.
Japarov also met with other Tajik officials, including Rustam Emomali, the chairman of Tajikistan’s upper house of parliament. Rustam Emomali is the son of the Tajik president and seems to be the heir apparent when his father leaves office, so Japarov had an opportunity to take stock of Tajikistan’s presumptive future leader.
From Bombs and Bullets to Fruit and Fashion
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are alike in many ways. They are the two smallest countries in Central Asia in terms of territory, and both countries are more than 90% covered by mountains. Tajikistan’s population is more than 10 million, whilst Kyrgyzstan’s is more than seven million.
During Tajikistan’s 1992-1997 civil war, more than 40,000 Tajik citizens found refuge in Kyrgyzstan, though admittedly, the majority were ethnic Kyrgyz.
Disputed areas of their border poisoned what should have been a natural friendship.
Photos of Rahmon and Japarov touring the trade fair, admiring produce – including the melon pyramids that are mandatory when the Tajik leader meets with important foreign leaders – and textiles are a sign the relationship is headed in a better direction.
Since the first conflict in 2021, the two countries have spent their scarce resources on arms and military equipment, funds which would have been better utilized on social infrastructure and energy security. The sight of the two presidents standing together with businessmen rather than individually with their military generals and security chiefs, therefore, is a welcome development.
