Exchange of Vorukh out of the question, Rahmon says

AKIPRESS.COM - President Emomali Rahmon met with Vorukh residents as part of his working trip to Sughd region.
Isfara bordering with Kyrgyzstan plays an important role in strengthening of friendly and good neighborly relations between the nations, Rahmon said.
Border delimitation and demarcation is one of the main issues for residents of Isfara and Vorukh, Rahmon said.
"The government of Tajikistan is in talks with Kyrgyzstan since 2002. More than 100 meetings of delegations of the intergovernmental comission for state border delimitation and demarcation were held up to now. In October 2019 the agreement was reached with then President of Kyrgyzstan about need to ramp up work of the intergovernmental commission for border delimitation and demarcation at the level of Deputy Prime Ministers," Rahmon said.
519.9 km of the state border were defined and approved. The draft of agreement on state border was prepared for signing.
In accordance with the agreements reached with Kyrgyzstan, the agreement was supposed to be signed in May 2016, Rahmon said.
"We considered this document within the government of Tajikistan and completed internal procedures as suggested by the Kyrgyz side," he added.
"However, the agreement on approved border areas still remains unsigned," Rahmon stated.
The government of Tajikistan is interested in the soonest delimitation of the state border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. In case of signing of the agreement, more than a half of border sections will be delimited, he said.
"During the whole period of talks, that is 19 years, exchange of Vorukh or any other territory was never on agenda and is out of the question," Rahmon stressed.
State National Security Committee Chairman Kamchibek Tashiev said earlier that Kyrgyzstan offered Tajikistan to exchange Vorukh with another territory in Batken region.