DUSHANBE, September 18, 2013, Asia-Plus -- Relevant committees and commissions of Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament will begin to discuss the issue of ratification of the agreement on the status of the Russian military base in Tajikistan next week, the Majlisi Namoyandagon member Sattor Kholov told Asia-Plus in an interview.

Tajik MP believes that there will be no problems with ratification of the mentioned agreement.  “The presence of the Russian military base in Tajikistan serves interests of not only Tajikistan and the Russian Federation but all the CIS member nations, and therefore, I am sure that there will be no problems with ratification of this agreement,” Kholov said.

In his opinion, significance of the Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan will increase in the region after 2014, when international coalition forces will be withdrawn from Afghanistan.

We will recall that President Emomali Rahmon said after an official meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow in early August that Tajik parliament will ratify in the fall an agreement that extends Russia’s military presence in Tajikistan until 2042.