Vladimir Putin, Emomali Rakhmonov Talk Central Asian Situation

A telephone conversation was held on Friday between presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Emomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan. The press service of the Russian head of state reports that they focused on "topical questions related to the development of situation in the region and Russia-Tajikistan interaction in both the bilateral and multilateral formats". RIA Novosti was told at the information department of the Tajik Foreign Ministry that in the course of the telephone conversation between the leaders of the two countries "a detailed exchange of opinion on the entire range of problems related to the situation in Afghanistan was held". The presidents reaffirmed their countries' adherence to close cooperation with the international community in the question of struggle against international terrorism. They also spoke of the provision of emergency food aid to the people of Afghanistan. Emomali Rakhmonov expressed satisfaction over the start of Russia's large-scale humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.