Baku, Azerbaijan, March 27
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has met with other heads of persian-speaking countries on the sidelines of Nowruz festival in Afghanistan's Kabul.
Rouhani, along with Afghan and Tajik presidents Hamid Karzai and Emomalii Rahmon , discussed mutual relations and cooperation to secure the stability and peace in the region, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on March 27.
The presidents emphasized on boosting ties "among the three Persian speaking countries as well as strengthening the use Persian language."
Alongside international events on the occasion of Nowruz, there will be also held a quadripartite meeting of Iranian, Pakistani, Afghan and Tajik presidents in Kabul.
Before the visit Rouhani told journalists that the countries of the region need mutual cooperation. He also said that the meeting would benefit both Afghanistan which suffers from terrorism, extremism and internal tension and the countries of the entire region.
The international ceremony for celebrating Nowruz started in Kabul on March 27. Presidents of Turkmenistan, Iran, Tajikistan and high-ranking officials of the countries marking Nowruz will participate in the events.
On Feb.23, 2010, at the initiative of Azerbaijan, the UN General Assembly adopted a decision to declare March 21 the International Day of Nowruz. The first international ceremony of celebrating Nowruz was held in Iran in 2011. The following celebrations were organized in Dushanbe (capital of Tajikistan) in 2012 and in Ashgabat (capital of Turkmenistan) in 2013.