Tajikistan started to export electricity to Uzbekistan after nine years of hiatus, said Tajik government on Tuesday.
The country's Regar and Uzbekistan's Gulja electricity transmission lines have been reactivated, according to a statement from the government of Tajikistan.
A total of 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity will be sold annually. Uzbekistan will pay 2 cents in the summer period, while 2.5 cents in the winter period for a kilowatt-hour of electricity.
In 2009, after leaving the Central Asia United Power System, which was established during the Soviet Union period and continued its activities in the first years of the independence of the countries in the region, the connection between the two countries' energy systems was also cut off.
The system was transferring electricity from Uzbekistan to northern regions of Tajikistan and from Tajikistan to southern regions of Uzbekistan.
However, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have reorganized their electricity energy systems, despite the longstanding tension due to the use of water and energy resources.
The tension has begun to defuse since the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev as president of Uzbekistan in Sep. 2016 and signing an agreement regarding the common use of water and energy resources, during the official visit of Uzbek president to Tajikistan on March 9-10.
Moreover, the joint declaration inked by heads of the states, which indicates that Uzbekistan could take part in the hydroelectric power plant projects in Tajikistan as long as it conforms to international norms and standards, has also paved the way to the normalisation process of the relation.
The countries thawed in bilateral relations, with mutually reopening border gates, introducing a 30-day visa-free travel application and the resumption of airplane flights after 25 years.
Reporting by Bahtiyar Abdukerimov in Tashkent
Writing by Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
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