DUSHANBE, October 18, Asia-Plus -- A meeting of the Tajik-Russian commission for military-technical cooperation is under way in Dushanbe.

Tajik Industries Minister Zayd Saidov told journalists in Dushanbe yesterday that the meeting is expected to result in a cooperation protocol. 

Saidov noted that, at present, bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the Russian Federation is expanding. ”We have signed a large number of agreements but they are only documents, laying the legal foundation for cooperation,” said the minister.  “With Russia we are developing a project to reprocess Russian rocket propellant in northern Tajikistan.” 

According to him, this project has two stages. ”We are now in the first stage, for which Russia has provided US $1 million,” noted Saidov, “The second stage presupposes 50/50 funding from both sides. The estimated budget for the project is US $5 million. 

The minister added that about 100 tons of radioactive waste is stored in the tailing dumps of the Vostokredmet (Eastern Rare Metals) enterprise in northern Tajikistan, posing a serious threat.