Tajik President Emomali Rahmon yesterday met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in New York on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 79). 

The Tajik president’s official website says the parties discussed a wide array of issues related to bilateral cooperation between the Republic of Tajikistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran.  

Noting significant development and expansion of relations of friendship and brotherhood, mutually beneficial collaboration between the two countries, Tajik leader reportedly stated that Tajikistan is ready to continue taking joint practical measures to strengthen the relationships.  

In the course of the talks, much attention was paid to the further expansion of cooperation in priority sectors of the economy, expansion of scientific and educational ties and expansion of cultural and humanitarian collaboration.   

The long-term program of trade and economic cooperation for the period up to 2030, practical cooperation within the framework of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation and taking advantage of opportunities of the Joint Investment Committee were considered important for the consistent implementation of the plans.  

At the end of the meeting, Emomali Rahmon invited Masoud Pezeshkian to visit Tajikistan at a time convenient for him.  

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 of 2022, 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 last year, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Iranian counterpart 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.