IRNA – The four years of cold ties of Iran and Tajikistan started to warm up when the Tajik foreign minister visited Tehran.
Analysts say that the relations are of great importance and can in the long-run have positive impacts serving the interests of the region.
Because Iran has had issues with the West and because it needed to break its economic and geopolitical sanctions, since the independence of the central Asian countries, Iran has always been interested to have good ties with them.
Therefore, Tajikistan that has the cultural and linguistic proximity with Iran has traditionally been especially important for Iranian diplomacy in the region.
The two countries have the same history and language, which has connected them for centuries.
But despite all the commonalities, the relations between the two countries have always been complicated and vague. Since the disintegration of the USSR, the level of relations between Iran and Tajikistan have been far from the existing potentials.
After four years of cold relations, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sirodjidin Mukhriddin Aslov made a visit to Tehran last year and met with President Hassan Rouhani and several other Iranian officials.
In the meeting, Rouhani said Iran is ready “to provide Tajikistan with more technical-engineering services”, “share experiences in implementing projects,” and “increase cooperation in fighting terrorism”, which were welcomed by the Tajik party as well.
Iranian companies made a tunnel in Tajikistan. It is located 80 km of Dushanbe and eases up traffic between northern and southern parts of Tajikistan. The traffic used to be totally blocked for six months a year due to snow.
On September 9, President Rouhani sent a congratulatory note to his Tajik counterpart on the occasion of independence of Tajikistan saying, “With regard to the common culture and language, the Islamic Republic of Iran is willing to develop and deepen relations between the two countries in all bilateral and multilateral fields.”
“In the current situation caused by the global crisis of coronavirus, it is necessary for the officials of the two countries to work harder and interact with each other to develop cooperation in order to solve the economic problems of the region and share experiences in fighting the pandemic.”
