DUSHANBE, March 5, 2009, Asia-Plus — The third meeting of leaders of Tajikistan (Emomali Rahmon), Afghanistan (Hamid Karzai) and Iran (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) will be held in Mazor-i Sharif, the capital of Afghanistan’s Balkh Province from March 20-21, 2009, Afghanistan’s representative at ECO’s cultural committee said on February 28, Tehran Times reported on March 1.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Emomali Rahmon, and Hamid Karzai are to attend the meeting coincided with the Navrouz festival – Persian speakers’ ancient ceremony, Faramarz Tamanna said in an interview with the Mehr News Agency, according to Tehran Times.
Tamanna was quoted as saying that strengthening cultural ties, improving Persian language in particular, and inking memorandums of understanding on cooperation in different fields are the reasons behind holding the meeting.
Tajik national news agency Khovar reported on March 3 that Oryonfar Shamsulhaq, Culture Attaché, Afghan Embassy in Dushanbe, has said in an interview with Khovar that the presidents of Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan will also participate at an ancient flag-raising ceremony at Hazrat Ali”s Mosque, which is held during celebrations to mark the Navrouz festival.
The previous tripartite meeting of the presidents of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran was held in Dushanbe on August 28, 2008. In the course of the talks, Emomali Rahmon, Hamid Karzai, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed a number of projects for tripartite and regional cooperation. The heads of state first met in narrow, and then an enlarged meeting with participation of the delegations of the three countries was held. During the meeting, it was noted that implementation of projects for construction of tunnels, bridges, Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran highway, and a railway link connecting Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran as well as power grids from Tajikistan to Iran and Pakistan via Afghanistan would boost trade, increase exports and ease transit costs in the region, as well as expand passenger traffic, and raise wellbeing of the population of the region. The sides also noted that implementation of those project would support reconstruction of Afghanistan’s economy and reestablishment of peace and stability there. The negotiations ended with signing of two documents on trilateral cooperation and one document on bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran: a memorandum on trilateral cooperation in the field of energy; a joint statement of Emomali Rahmon, Hamid Karzai and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the results of the meeting; and a memorandum on completion of construction works at the Istiqlol Tunnel in Tajikistan.
Navrouz, which literary means New Day in Persian, Dari and Tajik languages, is the traditional Iranian new year holiday celebrated by Iranian and many other peoples. It marks the first day of spring and is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (the start of spring in the northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. Today, the festival of Navrouz is celebrated in many countries, including Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, as well as Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Many peoples in West and South Asia, Northeast China, the Crimea, and even in Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia also celebrate this holiday.
