---
title: "Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan sign deal to end long-running border dispute"
description: "BISHKEK, March 13 (Reuters) - The presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed a deal on Thursday on demarcating their shared frontier, seeking to end a long-running border conflict that has seen dozens killed in skirmishes in recent years."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Border dispute"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-13-kyrgyzstan-and-tajikistan-sign-deal-to-end-long-running-border-dispute/"
published: "2025-03-13T13:19:06"
updated: "2025-03-13T13:19:08"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 138
---

# Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan sign deal to end long-running border dispute

> BISHKEK, March 13 (Reuters) - The presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed a deal on Thursday on demarcating their shared frontier, seeking to end a long-running border conflict that has seen dozens killed in skirmishes in recent years.

By Reuters · Published 13 March 2025, 15:19 SAST · Updated 13 March 2025, 15:19 SAST

## Key points
- In a bid to swap border skirmishes for friendly exchanges, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have inked a deal to reopen transport links, proving that even centuries-old disputes can be put on the back burner for a good old-fashioned road trip.
- Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have a history of border clashes, with significant conflict occurring in September 2022.
- A new peace deal, signed by leaders Japarov and Rakhmon, aims to restore transport links suspended since the 2022 hostilities.
- The border disputes stem from Soviet-era delineations in ethnically diverse regions of Central Asia.
- Both nations maintain Russian military bases and strong ties with Russia, which plays a role in their economic dynamics.

## Content

The two sides clashed repeatedly over the border around the Kyrgyz town of Batken in 2021 and 2022, culminating in a six-day conflict in September 2022.

The deal, signed by Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rakhmon in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, also provided for the reopening of road, rail and air transport links between the two that had been suspended since the battles of September 2022.

Disputes over the two countries' 970 km (600 mile) shared border date from Soviet times, when Moscow first drew up frontiers in ethnically mixed parts of Central Asia.

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan both host Russian military bases and maintain warm relations with Russia, where many of their nationals migrate for employment.

(Reporting by Aigerim Turgunbayeva in Bishkek and Mariya Gordeyeva in Almaty, Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)