US offers aid to Tajikistan with security and hydroelectric energy

DUSHANBE (AFP) - The United States has offered to help Tajikistan with security and hydroelectric energy, a US envoy to the central Asian country said after meeting with the Tajik president.



"We want to work with Tajikistan and the people of Tajikistan to help improve their security," said Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs.

The United States and the former Soviet republic signed an agreement in March reinforcing their cooperation on border protection, including the training of security forces.

Boucher commended Tajikistan -- which is on one of the main drug transit routes from Afghanistan, the world's number one opium producer -- for its commitment to the fight against drug trafficking.

The US envoy also promised President Emomaly Rakhmonov that he would study possibilities to help fund a Tajik hydroelectric power station project on the Piandj river, on the border with Afghanistan.

"I promised the president I would look into it to see if there is any support, assistance we can give," Boucher said.

Tajik authorities estimate the cost of the project at between two billion and three billion dollars (1.6 and 2.4 billion euros).

Boucher told the Tajik president that the United States was aiming for a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear crisis and underlined that relations between Iran and its regional neighbours should be "appropriate and on a commercial basis".

Iran has invested 200 million dollars in the construction of a Tajik hydroelectric power station at Sangtuda on the Vakhsh