DUSHANBE, August 7, 2010, Asia-Plus – Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says the Iran-Afghanistan-Tajikistan summit served as a venue for exchange of talks among the three sides on political issues of interest and for finding ways to bolster mutual economic cooperation, IRNA reported on August 6.
Mottaki told TV Channel Two the three sides will after the summit be committed to remove impediments on the way of regional development.
He said relations and cooperation between the three sides, especially in the transportation sector, will not secure their own interests only, rather the three sides can play an important role in yet more extensive relations from East Asia to Europe.
He then said volume of Iran-Afghanistan transactions have reached one and half a billion dollars, which will be times higher in the future in light of new transportation facilities provided for the purpose.
Mottaki noted that the three Persian-speaking countries in the region are to revive the Silk Road via linking their railroads.
“The project links the railroads of Tajikistan to Iran via Afghanistan. Thus the Silk Road will be revived as China is to link its railroad to Tajikistan through Kazakhstan,” he said during the interview with TV.
Mottaki said the project was mentioned in the statement of the tripartite summit of Persian-speaking heads of states in Tehran, adding that the transport ministers of the countries in the region are to study the project during a meeting in Dushanbe in October 2010.
The one-day tripartite summit of Persian-speaking heads of states took place in Tehran on August 5 with the participation of the presidents of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. At the end of the summit, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon signed a declaration with their Iranian counterpart on different political, cultural, economic and anti-terrorism issues.
