AFGHAN, PAKISTANI, RUSSIAN, AND TAJIK PRESIDENTS CONVENE IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000944

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ENRG ETRD TI RS AF PK
SUBJECT: AFGHAN, PAKISTANI, RUSSIAN, AND TAJIK PRESIDENTS CONVENE IN
DUSHANBE

REF: A. DUSHANBE 917

B. DUSHANBE 712

DUSHANBE 00000944 001.2 OF 002



1. (SBU) Summary: The presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and
Russia descended on Dushanbe July 28-31 for bilateral and
multilateral meetings, where they discussed energy, trade,
security, military cooperation, and other issues. The most
substantive news to emerge from the summit was a possible
Russian commitment to pay Tajikistan for hosting the 201
Motorized Rifle Division. Presidents Rahmon and Medvedev
participated in an opening ceremony for the Sangtuda-1
hydropower station. Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan
discussed cooperation on energy and trade issues, agreeing to
look at ways to increase commerce between Central and South
Asia. There were few unscripted moments in the tightly
orchestrated summit. End summary.




2. (SBU) The Pakistani delegation was the first to arrive last
week. Although a small incendiary device exploded near the
delegation's lodgings (ref A),the meetings were otherwise
uneventful. (Note: There is so far no hard evidence to support
speculation that the small explosions at the Hotel Tajikistan
and the Dushanbe Airport early last week may have been intended
to destabilize the summit. End note.) Rahmon and Pakistani
President Ali Zardari agreed to launch direct air routes between
Tajikistan and Pakistan, and Zardari said Pakistan would look
into ways to help Tajikistan use the seaports at Karachi and
Gwadar. Next to arrive were the Afghans. At a tripartite
summit on July 30, Presidents Karzai, Zardari, and Rahmon
reportedly focused primarily on energy and security. They
discussed progress to date on the prospective Central Asia-South
Asia (CASA-1000) electrical transmission line, as well as steps
being taken to combat militants in all three countries. The
following day Karzai attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a
new Afghan embassy in Dushanbe.




3. (SBU) The last to arrive was Russian President Medvedev, late
on the afternoon of July 30. The next morning he and Rahmon
attended an opening ceremony for the 670 Megawatt Sangtuda-1
hydropower station, a joint Russian-Tajik operation built by a
Russian contractor. The station actually had begun operating at
full capacity in May, though the Tajiks reportedly owed arrears
totaling some $20 million to the Russian operator. (Most media
report that the Tajiks own 25% of the project, but according to
local newspapers their ownership stake was earlier reduced to
16.45%). After hearing about Tajikistan's switch to
energy-saving lightbulbs (ref B),Medvedev agreed to launch a
Tajik-Russian joint venture to produce the bulbs domestically.




4. (SBU) One of the more substantive issues to emerge during the
summit concerned future military cooperation between Tajikistan
and Russia. The Russians are reportedly considering paying
Tajikistan for hosting the 6,800 members of the 201 Russian
Motorized Rifle Division based in Dushanbe. In exchange, Russia
is exploring weapons exports to Tajikistan at market prices, and
training Tajik military staff on a commercial basis. Presidents
Rahmon and Medvedev ordered Tajik Minister of Foreign Affairs
Zarifi and Russian Minister of Defense Serdyukov to review the
status of the base and report back in 45 days.




5. (SBU) During a July 31, press conference with all four
presidents, Medvedev raised some eyebrows (and hopes) with his
pledge that Russia would work with international financial
institutions such as the World Bank to draw the attention of the
G-8 and G-20 to regional problems such as energy generation and
transmission. The subject of Tajikistan's recent draft
legislation restricting the use of languages other than Tajik
also came up during the discussions. While the real impetus
behind the law remains murky, many here and in Russia had viewed
it as a direct challenge to the use of Russian, which still
prevails here in many official contexts. During meetings with
Medvedev, however, Rahmon apparently promised to take another
look at the draft to see how it might be revised. Despite harsh
criticism in Russian media, the Russian delegation played down
concern over the issue. Medvedev assistant Sergey Prikhodko
told the press that Russia had no objections to the legislation
because the Tajik Constitution designated Russian as the
language of international communication in Tajikistan. The
Russians and Tajiks pledged to continue their discussions on a

DUSHANBE 00000944 002.2 OF 002


range of issues at meeting in September.




6. (SBU) Comment: Very little in the way of unscripted moments
or interesting atmospherics emerged over the course of the
tightly controlled visits. Dushanbe residents were pleased and
more than a little surprised to find that the streets remained
open for much of the summit. According to an embassy source,
the Russian presidential plane departed from Dushanbe airport
laden with nuts and fruit from Tajikistan. "Why is Tajikistan
subsidizing the Russian president's grocery purchases?" the
source wondered. When they're free, even hot peppers are sweet,
as the Russian saying goes.

End comment.
QUAST