Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon arrived in Tehran yesterday evening on an official visit.
Tajik president’s official website says presidential adviser for foreign relations, prosecutor-general, ministers of foreign affairs, energy and water resources, economic development and trade, transport, and finance as well as heads of the state committee for land management and geodesy, the committee for environmental protection, the tourism development committee, Khatlon province governor, head of the chamber for commerce and industry and some other officials are accompanying Emomali Rahmon on his visit to Iran.
Emomali Rahmon was reportedly accorded warm welcome by Iranian Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian and some other Iranian officials.
Tajik leader is reportedly paying the visit to Iran at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi.
It is to be noted that the pervious visit of Emomali Rahmon to the Islamic Republic of Iran was made nine years ago.
Meanwhile, IRNA says Emomali Rahmon is heading a high-profile delegation to Iran at the invitation of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to sign multiple documents on cooperation between the two nations, among other programs planned for the visit.
Iran-Tajikistan cooperation has reportedly seen constant growth, with periodical ups and downs, since Tajikistan’s independence in 1991 when Iran became the first country to recognize the ex-Soviet state, which Iran’s Ambassador to Tajikistan Mohammad-Taqi Saberi says is a sign of the depth of Tehran-Dushanbe ties.
Iran didn’t leave Tajikistan alone during its difficult days by keeping a strong presence in the country’s reconstruction.
Ali-Ashraf Mojtahed Shabestari, the head of the Iran-Tajikistan friendship association who was the first ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the country in the 1990s, told IRNA on Sunday that Tajikistan has a unique status among countries in Iran’s view, and the two countries’ relationship has always been growing except for rare times when it was disrupted by misunderstanding.
Delegated to over 70 countries as an Iranian diplomat, Shabestari said that no country is as intimate and dependent on Iran as Tajikistan, a relationship which is derived from historical, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic commonalities.
He noted that President Raisi’s decision to choose Tajikistan as the destination of his first presidential trip was of high significance for Tajiks.
IRNA notes that so far, Iranian presidents have had 13 trips to Tajikistan and Tajik presidents have visited Iran 17 times, in addition to visits paid by foreign ministers, speakers, and other high-ranking officials.
During these visits, Iran and Tajikistan have reportedly signed over 170 cooperation documents.
Tajikistan and Iran have also had cooperation in the framework of regional organizations, including the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which was properly manifested in Tajikistan’s support of Iran's ascension to SCO in 2021.
