Tajikistan asks USA to cancel Jackson–Vanik amendment

Baku. 19 June. REPORT.AZ/ Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov yesterday met in Washington with Mr. Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher, who chairs the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats.

Report informs referring to "Interfax", the Tajik MFA information department reports that Aslov and Rohrabacher discussed a number of topical issues related to bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the United States, including cancellation of the Jackson–Vanik amendment for Tajikistan.

Sides also exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues being of mutual interest, the source said.

The Jackson–Vanik amendment is a 1974 provision in United States federal law, intended to affect U.S. trade relations with countries with non-market economies (originally, countries of the Communist bloc: Soviet Union, China, Vietnam and Albania) that restrict freedom of emigration and other human rights.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union amendment automatically applied to all CIS countries, however, has been canceled, first in relation to Kyrgyzstan, then Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Russia and Moldova. It continues to act against Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.