Uzbekistan, Tajikistan re-open border crossings

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan: Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on Thursday celebrated the re-opening of a long-neglected railway and several border posts, pointing to a thaw in frosty bilateral ties, Tajikistan’s foreign ministry said.

Over the past months, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has moved to smooth strained ties in the region and is expected to visit Tajikistan for talks with his counterpart Emomali Rakhmon for the first time next week.

The Tajik foreign ministry said on Thursday that events marking the re-opening of nine posts along the two countries’ shared border took place in "a friendly atmosphere". Mukhammed Ulugkhodjayev, a spokesman for Tajikistan’s border service, told AFP that nationals from both countries "had faces full of joy" at music and food-filled festivities overseen by officials from the two countries.

Some of the border posts had been closed almost a decade ago, while the Soviet-era railway fell into disuse following a mysterious explosion on the Uzbek section of the track in 2011 amid worsening relations between the pair. The first passenger train to use the renovated line will set off next Wednesday, the foreign ministry said.