Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu visited Tajikistan to attend the 9th Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process on 30 March 2021 and to hold bilateral meetings.

On 28 March 2021 in Dushanbe, Minister Çavuşoğlu first had a meeting with our business people, who make important contributions to our relations with Tajikistan, and evaluated cooperation opportunities.

The next day, Minister Çavuşoğlu had a meeting with Sherali Kabir, Turkey-Tajikistan Joint Economic Commission (JEC) Co-Chair and the Minister of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan, to evaluate the economic cooperation between our countries.

Minister Çavuşoğlu noted that the 11th JEC meeting would be held in Dushanbe in August, and that signing the Preferential Trade Agreement would increase our commercial relations.

Later that day, Minister Çavuşoğlu held a meeting with Mahmadtoir Zokirzoda, Speaker of House of Representatives of Tajikistan, on increasing inter-parliamentary contacts after the pandemic, and underlined that parliamentary diplomacy would further strengthen our brotherly relations.

Then, Minister Çavuşoğlu mer with his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Muhriddin and expressed that our relations were developing in every field.

Following the meeting, the two Ministers held a joint press conference.

Minister Çavuşoğlu stated that we had signed MoUs on 2021-2023 cooperation program between our Ministries and Protocol matters, and congratulated Tajikistan for the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process Meeting.

Then, Minister Çavuşoğlu was received by President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan.

Minister Çavuşoğlu noted that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would visit Tajikistan and first Cooperation Council meeting would be held.

Minister Çavuşoğlu also added that we would be pleased to host him at Antalya Diplomacy Forum and that our relations were developing in every field under the leadership of our Presidents.

On the same day, Minister Çavuşoğlu also had a meeting with Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of India, where our bilateral relations and regional developments were discussed, and stated that we would develop our relations particularly in economy and trade.

Later that day, Minister Çavuşoğlu had another meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Kureyshi of Pakistan, where they evaluated our bilateral relations and the latest developments regarding the peace process in Afghanistan.

Then, Minister Çavuşoğlu met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov.

Minister Çavuşoğlu highlighted that we were pleased that the ID travel between the two countries began on April 1st and that our strong cooperation would continue in every field.

Minister Çavuşoğlu evaluated the peace process in Afghanistan and discussed the preparations of the meeting to be held in Istanbul with his Afghan counterpart Haneef Atmar.

Minister Çavuşoğlu told that Turkey would continue to support peace and stabilization efforts for Afghanistan.

On the third and last day of his program in Dushanbe, Minister Çavuşoğlu attended and adressed the 9th Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process, co-chaired by Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

Minister Çavuşoğlu emphasized that there was a need of a comprehensive ceasefire for a political settlement, and with this thought in mind and upon request of the Afghan parties we were planning to host a senior-level meeting in Turkey to complement and energize the Doha process.

Finally, Minister Çavuşoğlu met with President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan and exchanged views on the maximum contribution of the Istanbul Meeting to the peace talks.

Minister Çavuşoğlu stressed that we would continue our close consultations with our Afghan brothers and sisters.