MOSCOW, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The president of Tajikistan arrived Wednesday in Moscow to discuss further bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, a Russian spokesman said.
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon arrived in Moscow for a two-day state visit, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
"During the summit, the presidents are expected to continue discussions of the key issues of bilateral relations, regional and international topics," an aid to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was quoted as saying.
Bilateral trade between the two countries expanded by 14.7 percent in 2009 to $328.7 million compared with 2008.
Medvedev met last year with Rahmon in the southern Tajik province of Khatlon to inaugurate a hydropower plant that symbolized the first major project developed by the two countries since the Soviet era.
Construction on the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric plant in Tajikistan started in the 1980s but was suspended after the Soviet collapse in 1991.
Both countries were at loggerheads over a $30 million debt for electricity supplied by Russian-controlled hydropower plants, though payment schedules were settled last year.
