DUSHANBE, November 9, 2010, Asia-Plus — Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi met with his Iranian counterpart Manoucherh Mottaki in Tehran yesterday on sidelines of the 9th meeting of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD).
According to the Tajik MFA information department, Zarifi and Mottaki discussed bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran in economic and cultural spheres as well as Iran’s contribution to implementation of energy and transport projects in Tajikistan and the Central Asian region as whole.
Issues related to educational cooperation between the two countries and Tajik students studying in Iran were among major topics of the talks.
Hamrokhon Zarifi asked his Iranian counterpart for help in sending back Tajik students that are studying in Iran illegally, the source said.
We will recall that Tajik authorities stress that Tajik nationals should only enter foreign religious schools through government quotas or at least with the knowledge of the country’s educational officials, while many Tajiks entered religious schools abroad privately.
Zarifi and Mottaki also discussed the current situation in Afghanistan, regional security problems and a number of regional and international issues being of mutual interest.
The Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) is a body created in 2002 to promote Asian cooperation at a continental level and to help integrate separate regional cooperation organizations such as ASEAN, SAARC and the Gulf Cooperation Council. The Asian Union is considered and seen to be the successor in the coming future. The main objectives of the ACD are to: promote interdependence among Asian countries in all areas of cooperation by identifying Asia”s common strengths and opportunities which will help reduce poverty and improve the quality of life for Asian people whilst developing a knowledge-based society within Asia and enhancing community and people empowerment; expand the trade and financial market within Asia and increase the bargaining power of Asian countries in lieu of competition and, in turn, enhance Asia”s economic competitiveness in the global market; serve as the missing link in Asian cooperation by building upon Asia”s potentials and strengths through supplementing and complementing existing cooperative frameworks so as to become a viable partner for other regions; and ultimately transform the Asian continent into an Asian Community, capable of interacting with the rest of the world on a more equal footing and contributing more positively towards mutual peace and prosperity.
