On May 15, Emomali Rahmon flew to Soghd oblast in northern Tajikistan, with two main points on his agenda: first, to hold an official meeting with the president of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiev, on water and border issues. Second, to observe the overall socio-political situation in the Soghd oblast and evaluate the fulfillment of the objectives set during this year's annual Presidential message to Parliament. The primary issue concerns measures to prepare for the coming winter.

The Soghd oblast of Tajikistan, whose major city is Khujand, was hit hardest by last winter's energy and gas shortages and some districts still enjoy regular electricity cuts. The Soghd oblast is separated from the central part of the country by the Zeravshan mountain range, and there are no power lines and grids in place to transmit hydroelectric energy produced in the south of the country to the north. The only road passing from Soghd oblast to the capital, Dushanbe, is regularly blocked in winter. Hence, the Soghd Oblast has always depended on supplies of electricity and natural gas from neighboring Uzbekistan. Recently, Uzbek suppliers have become quite serious about payment deadlines for gas and electricity and regularly cut off supplies, claiming an internal deficit. Celebrations of the spring holiday “Novruz”, coming right after the winter, was moved this year from Dushanbe to Khujand, with the president directly participating in order to hoist the spirit of the public.

The Kyrgyz president's visit to northern Tajikistan was sparked by a water conflict in the cross-border area along the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. During March this year, border services of Kyrgyzstan’s Batken district spread information that citizens of bordering Isfara, Tajikistan, were planning to destroy a water dump on the trans-boundary river on the grounds that water had not been provided for their fields for several days. In turn the Tajik side, led by the head official of the Isfara district, argued that this incident took place on disputed territory and the construction of a water dump by the Kyrgyz side on the trans-boundary river was illegal in itself. As a result, 150 Tajik citizens crossed what according to Kyrgyzstan is the border, thus raising tensions to a peak and drawing both civilians and representatives of the law-enforcement bodies of the two countries into the conflict.

The presidents of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan discussed different action plans and measures that can effectively handle water/border problems between the two countries. During the meeting, Presidents Rahmon and Bakiev stressed that a legal settlement of Kyrgyz-Tajik border issues is essential in further strengthening bilateral relations between the two states and to providied regional security and stability. The heads of the two countries ordered their governments to speed up the work of the Intergovernmental committee in charge of the delimitation and demarcation of state borders. Furthermore, to prevent a re-eruption of potential water/border conflicts, the Intergovernmental committee was asked to prepare an agreement that will ban all types of activities, including agriculture, along the border lines until the process of delimitation and demarcation is completed. The two presidents agreed that border delimitation and demarcation between the two countries should be undertaken in a spirit of friendly relations, mutual understanding and trust.

After meeting with the Kyrgyz President, Mr. Rahmon traveled through the province to see the overall performance of the region and to promise the fulfillment of earlier set targets, among which are effective land tillage and preparations for the winter (mending existing power grids and coal reserves). The president visited several farms in the province and delivered a speech to the government and authorities of the Soghd Oblast. Along with a few positive developments, he stressed several major shortcomings, among which are a decrease in the extraction of natural gas and production of hydroelectric energy from the Kairakum and smaller regional hydro-electric stations, as well as a decrease in the output of both the light industry and the rural economy. According to the president, there are enough reserves in the province for overcoming the above mentioned shortcomings, if these reserves are used efficiently.

Furthermore, the president ordered the province’s heads of energy and industry to take comprehensive measures for incorporating modern energy-efficient technologies into businesses and to fill the market with high-quality products. Finally, the president noted that there are 99 enterprises founded on foreign investments in the oblast, but that many of those are not functioning. In this regard, the president ordered local authorities to either work for the activation of these businesses, or otherwise dissolve them in accordance with the national law on bankruptcy.

Though the meeting of Emomali Rahmon with the Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiev was overall successful and promises both in the short and long run to resolve the tensions on the densely populated border regions and thus ease popular grievances, the president's stay and orders in the Soghd oblast seem mere demagogy and empty words that financially and realistically are impossible to fulfill.