Dushanbe, Feb 15, IRNA Tajikistan?s President Emomali Rahmon in a meeting here Friday with an Iranian deputy foreign minister expressed satisfaction with level of bilateral ties and stressed that cooperation and relations need to expand comprehensively.?The two Persian Speaking countries with lots of historical and cultural commonalties both have strong will for facilitating the entire existing potentials at the service of comprehensive expansion of fruitful relations,? said the Tajik president in his meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour.
Referring to his last week phone talks with President Hassan Rouhani, as well as the two presidents? September meeting in Bishkek, President Rahmon expressed certainty that during President Rouhani?s tenure Tehran-Dushanbe relations will be further enriched.
?The Iranian foreign policy is achieving its major pre-determined objectives during the short while that the new president has been in office in Tehran,? said the Tajik president.
President Rahmon said that Iran is one of the most important economic and trade partners of Tajikistan in the world, emphasizing that the infrastructure projects in his country are implemented relying on Iranian technicians? assistance.
In the meeting the two sides discussed issues related to bilateral relations and fruitful cooperation to save both nations? interests in various possible fields.
Special attention was paid to the expansion of economic and trade cooperation, making investments and proposing bills that would match the regulations of the other side to further facilitate trade in various fields.
The present day conditions in Afghanistan and its future perspective, too, was discussed in the meeting.
After the meeting the Iranian deputy foreign minister told the reporters that he had delivered President Rouhani?s invitation to his Tajik counterpart for an official visit of Iran, reviewed the two countries? relations during the past 22 years, and thoroughly surveyed the possible ways for the development of future relations.
?The time schedule for the visits of the two countries? officials during the year 2014 was reviewed and the various infrastructure projects underway by the Iranians and those they will implement in the future, too, were reviewed and emphasis was made that the unused potentials should be exploited,? he said.
On Friday morning Rahimpour had a separate meeting with the Tajik Foreign Minister Sirodjidin Aslov and on Friday evening he took part in a press conference with the local Tajik media.
Iran and Tajikistan share a common history, language and culture. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the two countries have naturally enjoyed a close relationship.
Iran was the first nation to establish an embassy in Dushanbe. It was also one of the first countries to extend diplomatic recognition of the newly independent Tajikistan in 1991. Iran provided diplomatic assistance and built new mosques within Tajikistan. Due to the resurgence of Iranian culture within Tajikistan, Iran helped encourage cultural exchange through conferences, media, and film festivals. Iranian television programs, magazines, and books became increasingly common in Tajikistan.
Iranian and Tajik officials have recently accelerated the expansion of the two countries ties and cooperation, especially after the empowerment of the new government in Iran.
On September 13, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressed the expansion of the mutual relations and cooperation between Iran and Tajikistan in a meeting with his Tajik counterpart in the Kyrgyz capital city of Bishkek on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
Iran has contributed $180bln to the construction of Sangtoudeh-II power plant in Tajikistan. The power plants construction work began on September 5, 2011 in the presence of the Iranian and Tajik presidents.
Sangtoudeh-II is located 120 km southeast of the Capital city of Dushanbe.
Also, in 1012 Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran agreed to improve cooperation and build a railway link from Tehran to Dushanbe.
The agreement at a regional conference in the Tajik capital Dushanbe underlines close ties are between Iran and the Central Asian republic and beyond.
By IRNA
The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.
