Iranian President Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Dushanbe today on an official visit.
The Tajik president’s official website says Iranian President was cordially met by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon at the Qasr-i Millat (the Palace of Nation), the official workplace of the president of Tajikistan.
Tajik expert on Iran and Afghanistan affairs, Qosim Bekmuhammad, notes that further expansion of trade and economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran is a critical issue that should be given serious attention.
The expert notes that it is necessary to return to the stage when Iran was among the top largest trading partners of Tajikistan.
“Iran is one of the most important routes for Tajikistan and other Central Asia’s nations to access free waters and Chabahar Port is the most suitable and convenient route for our region,” Mr. Bekmuhammad said.
Recall, during his meeting with the then Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on June 2, 2019, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin asked for cooperation in Iran's southeastern Chabahar Port as a great trade zone for international cooperation.
Mr. Rouhani, for his part, reportedly said that Chabahar Port can be the best and safest route for transit of Tajik goods.
Meanwhile, according to unofficial information, Iranian president’s official visit to Tajikistan is expected to result in signing of the joint statement of the presidents of the two countries and number of important documents on economic, cultural, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two countries.
Iran’s IRNA, however, reported on November 7 that the Iranian and Tajik officials are expected to ink some memoranda of understanding (MoUs).
It is the second visit of Iranian President Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi to Tajikistan. For the first time, he visited Tajikistan on September 16, 2021 to participate in a meeting of the Council of Heads of States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
As far as Tajik President Emomali Rahmon is concerned, he paid an official visit to Tehran on May 30, 2022. The visit included the meeting of the Presidents of the two countries Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi and Emomali Rahmon, as well as bilateral meetings of ministers and heads of relevant committees. This event certainly could be described as a landmark visit because the previous visit of Emomali Rahmon to the Islamic Republic of Iran was made nine years ago.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan and Iran have naturally enjoyed a close and strong relationship with the two often being described as "one spirit in two bodies" by the ex-president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad due to both being Persian-speaking and Iranic countries.
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.
During the civil war in Tajikistan, Iran offered to mediate between the two factions. In 1995, Tajikistan opened its first embassy in Tehran, one of the few outside of the former USSR. Relations have since grown stronger, as the two nations cooperate in the energy sector and officials from both nations have supported stronger ties.
Tajikistan and Iran have traditionally close relations, sharing many similar cultural, religious and ethnic identifiers and Iran has been a major sponsor of essential hydropower infrastructure in Tajikistan, but Iran has angered Tajikistan by inviting the Islamic Revival Party (IRPT) leader Muhiddin Kabiri to attend the International Islamic Unity Conference that took place in Tehran on December 27-29, 2015.
Tajikistan started taking efforts to improve its relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran in early 2019, and the long period of chill in relations between Tajikistan and Iran has come to an end. There was clear evidence of that in late May last year, when Tajik President Emomali Rahmon paid an official visit to Tehran and signed 17 cooperation agreements. The documents entail political, economic and trade cooperation between Tehran and Dushanbe, relations in the transportation sector, joint investment, new technologies, environmental issues, the energy sector, sports interaction, judicial cooperation, research and training, as well as the tourism industry.
In June 2022, Deputy Iranian Interior Minister for Security and Police Affairs Sayed Majid Mirahmadi, visited Dushanbe to attend the first meeting of the joint security task force between Iran and Tajikistan.
In September this year, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Iranian counterpart Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi held talks in New York on the margins of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
According to the Tajik president’s official website, the two presidents discussed further expansion of the bilateral cooperation and a number of topical and regional issues being of mutual interest.
The parties also discussed cooperation between the two countries within international and regional organizations.
Besides, Rahmon and Raisi exchanged views “on a tendency of increasing modern challenges and threats such as terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and cybercrime, which create serious problems for the security of the countries.”
It was emphasized that Tajikistan and Iran, as the closest neighbors, are interested in restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan.
