Dushanbe, Bishkek reportedly reach agreement on land swap along a disputed segment of the mutual border

A source close to the Tajik delegation participating in the border talks says the meeting was co-chaired by Tajik Deputy Prime Minister, Azim Ibrohim, and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Akram Madumarov.  

The two sides reportedly agreed to swap 23 hectares of lands along a disputed segment of the mutual border.   

“Thus, we can assume that long running disputes over the border issues have moved off the ground,” said the source.  “Half of the swapped territory belongs to Tajikistan and another half belongs to Kyrgyzstan.”

The source has refrained from giving further details.  He did not specify on which territories the sides managed to reach an agreement.  

The talks in Batken reportedly resulted in signing of a protocol on further cooperation on delimitation ad demarcation of the shared the border and a plan of cooperation between the Tajik Sughd province and the Kyrgyz Batken region.

The next meeting of the Tajik-Kyrgyz intergovernmental commission for delimitation and demarcation of the mutual border is expected to take place in late March this year.   

Many border areas in Central Asia have been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.  The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan meet.

The border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has been the scene of unrest repeatedly since the collapse of the former Soviet Union.  The countries share 971 kilometers of border – of which only 504 kilometers 

The latest incident along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border took place on the night of January 9-10.  As usual, both sides blamed each other for the incident    

Last year alone, there were at least fourteen cases of violence, in which six Tajik nationals and one Kyrgyz citizen were killed and more than 60 other people were injured.