Yesterday, Moscow hosted a presentation of the 'Pamir Club' forum, created a week ago in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous region of Tajikistan. The first meeting of the club is scheduled for early 2018. It will work alternately in Khorugh and Russian cities, as well as by video link.
The executive director of the Information and Analytical Center for the study of post-Soviet space of Moscow State University, Sergei Rekeda, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, said that "when they talk about the post-Soviet space, for some reason the majority view was that it is necessary to develop relations with the capitals of the post-Soviet republics, often forgetting about the importance of developing regional relations."
Fortunately, they have started to fill this gap. "One of the examples of solving this problem is the creation of the Pamir Club as a public initiative for a systematic, ongoing dialogue between the specialists of the Gorno-Badakhshan region and Russian regions, in particular, the representatives of Novosibirsk and Moscow," Rekeda said.
According to him, Mountainous Badakhshan is interesting in human, nature and tourism terms: "Historically, this region has been strategically positioned. We can even recall the 19th century, when the key rounds of the Great Game of diplomatic and not only diplomatic battles with the British Empire took place in the Pamirs. In fact, this region is of strategic importance for Russia even now, but, unfortunately, even humanitarian relations have not been at this level of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region's importance for a long time."
"I hope that it will be possible to solve at least some of the current problems in this direction within the framework of the Pamir Club through the discussion of the investment climate, the position of Russian language in the region and academic contacts," Rekeda said.
