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OO RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHC #9704/01 2671955
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O 241936Z SEP 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE IMMEDIATE 1302
INFO ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 099704 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL TI ZK AF
SUBJECT: (U) ASSISTANT SECRETARY BLAKE'S SEPTEMBER 23, 
2009 CONVERSATION WITH TAJIK FOREIGN MINISTER HAMROKHOM 
ZARIFI 
 
¶1. (U) September 23, 2009; 10:30 a.m.; New York, USA. 
 
¶2. (U) Participants: 
 
U.S. 
Assistant Secretary Blake 
Matt Lowe, Special Assistant 
Don Camp, UNGA Senior Area Adviser 
Sarah Prescott (SCA Notetaker) 
 
Tajikistan 
Foreign Minister Hamrokhom Zarifi 
Lukmon Isomatov, UN Permanent Representative 
 
¶3.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  Assistant Secretary Blake met Foreign 
Minister Zarifi for a 20-minute, bilateral meeting on the 
margins of UNGA on September 23.  A/S Blake thanked Foreign 
Minister Zarifi for a good July visit to Dushanbe, thanked 
Tajikistan for supporting U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, 
encouraged the integration of Afghan border guards into Tajik 
training, invited feedback on the U.S. draft Annual Bilateral 
Commissions Work Plan, recommended the Government of 
Tajikistan (GOTI) make public recent audits from the National 
Bank, Barqi Tojik and Talco Aluminum Plant, requested 
President Rahmon to accept Ambassador Ken Gross, credentials 
and requested reinstatement of prison visits for returned 
Tajik GTMO detainees.  In response, Zarifi said he felt the 
U.S.-Tajik bilateral relations were strong but Tajikistan 
needed more technical and financial assistance from the U.S. 
in order to meet our expectations on border security, 
trafficking in persons and other standards.  Zarifi 
encouraged A/S Blake to think of Tajikistan when senior level 
USG officials visit the region.  END SUMMARY 
 
---------------- 
Annual Bilateral Consultations (ABC) 
---------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Foreign Minister Zarifi opened by noting Tajik-US 
bilateral relations are very strong because we do not have 
any difficult issues between our countries.  Zarifi felt the 
ABC Work Plan should focus on economics, democracy, regional 
partnerships and Afghanistan - especially Afghanistan to 
build stability in the region.  Zarifi declared Tajikistan 
was ready to accept an American delegation or he would be 
happy to travel to the U.S. to begin the ABC Work Plan 
discussions. 
 
¶5. (SBU) A/S Blake thanked Zarifi for his initial thoughts on 
the ABC concept and passed over a copy of our draft ABC Work 
plan.  Quickly glancing at the document, Zarifi said "CASA is 
very important to Tajikistan and Pakistan."  Zarifi said we 
should expect their response by the first of October.    A/S 
Blake thanked Zarifi and emphasized the faster we can agree 
to an agenda the faster we can get to work.  A/S Blake 
further suggested that we hold our first meeting in late 
November or early December.  Zarifi noted it would be best if 
A/S Blake came to Dushanbe for the inaugural ABC meeting, 
which Blake said he would be pleased to do. 
 
------------- 
Please build us a second bridge 
------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Preempting our usual negative response, Zarifi 
pressed for a second U.S.-funded bridge to Afghanistan noting 
that a second bridge could help increase the amount of 
Northern Distribution Network (NDN) traffic through 
Tajikistan.  Zarifi requested the U.S. to urge Uzbekistan to 
allow more NDN cargo transit across the Nizhny Pyanj Bridge 
into Afghanistan.  By allowing additional NDN routes from 
Tajikistan, Tajikistan could increase fruit and vegetable 
exports to Afghanistan.  (Comment:  Zarifi proudly noted that 
Tajikistan has the best water and fruit juice in the world.) 
 Noting the Administration,s focus on food security, Blake 
asked how Tajikistan had sufficient fruits and vegetables to 
export to Afghanistan?  Zarifi said that President Rahmon has 
doubled the number of crops per year which gave farmers more 
capacity to grow more food than cotton. 
 
¶7. (SBU) On a related note, Zarifi pointed out that 
additional investment from the U.S. would accelerate the TIFA 
Agreement.  A/S Blake noted that the TIFA would be a good 
forum to discuss both regional and bilateral trade 
opportunities since access to a larger integrated regional 
 
STATE 00099704  002 OF 002 
 
SUBJECT: (U) ASSISTANT SECRETARY BLAKE'S SEPTEMBER 23, 
2009 CONVERSATION WITH TAJIK FOREIGN MINISTER HAMROKHOM 
ZARI 
market would be of interest to U.S. business. He added that 
increased public transparency would also help, recommending 
that the GOTI make public recent audits from the National 
Bank, Barqi Tojik and Talco Aluminum Plant. 
 
------------- 
Regional Security and Cooperation 
------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Zarifi pointed out that Tajikistan had excellent 
border guard training programs through the OSCE but more 
investment was needed to improve this capacity.  Zarifi noted 
that narcotics continued to pour out of Afghanistan thru 
Tajikistan and Tajikistan needed additional technical 
assistance to combat narcotics flows.  A/S Blake noted that 
in conversations with Kazakhstan, as the new OSCE Chairman, 
one of the U.S. suggestions was to focus the OSCE on border 
security.  Zarifi noted they were talking with Kazakhstan on 
this issue. 
 
------------- 
Democracy and Trafficking in Persons (TIP) 
------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) A/S Blake underscored the importance of having a 
more detailed discussion on holding a free and fair election 
in February.  Zarifi replied that Tajikistan was working 
closely with the OSCE and others in preparation for the 
elections.  A/S Blake noted that he would follow up with the 
U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe to ensure Tajikistan had all of the 
support they needed. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Zarifi told A/S Blake that Tajikistan had improved 
its record on preventing trafficking in persons.  While 
Tajikistan is working hard to address U.S. concerns, 
Tajikistan could make more progress if they received 
specialized expertise from the U.S.  Zarifi noted that 
without more technical support from the U.S., further Tajik 
TIP progress would be difficult. 
 
------------- 
Other Issues 
------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) In response to Zarifi,s plea for the U.S. senior 
officials to visit Tajikistan when in Central Asia, A/S Blake 
noted that through the TIFA, ABCs and other bilateral forums, 
there would be opportunities for senior U.S. officials to 
visit Tajikistan.  On Ambassador Gross, credentials, Zarifi 
said he had already met with the President and this would 
happen soon after the President,s return from UNGA.  On 
visiting Tajik-GTMO detainees, A/S Blake noted that in 2008 
Tajikistan had allowed the U.S. prison visits of the two 
Tajik-GTMO detainees but in 2009 we were not given access. 
He asked that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs speak with the 
Ministry of Justice to remedy this.   Zarifi assured Blake 
that prison visits to former GTMO detainees would not be a 
problem. 
CLINTON