Foreign ministers of Iran and Tajikistan have stressed the significance of bolstering bilateral cooperation, saying it will help promote peace in the region.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Tajik counterpart Hamrokhon Zarifi discussed on Monday ways to promote regional cooperation which, as they stressed, will help establish stability and tranquility, fight extremism and prepare the ground for boosting development and welfare in the region, Press TV reported.
Mottaki praised deep-rooted friendly ties between Iran and Tajikistan and said the two countries enjoy many commonalties, IRNA reported.
The Islamic Republic and Tajikistan are promoting mutual cooperation in line with the interests of the two nations, he added.
The top Iranian diplomat expressed the country's readiness to implement joint projects with Tajikistan in the fields of transportation, infrastructure and development.
He also emphasized that private sectors of the two countries should also carry out joint projects in new fields.
The Tajik foreign minister, for his part, said a common language and culture have led to long-term political and cultural cooperation between Tehran and Dushanbe.
He expressed his country's readiness to speed up implementation of projects which are currently underway and identify new areas for further cooperation with Iran.
Zarifi hailed Iran's policies on regional developments as well as its influential role in settling problems, expressing hope that the policies would help the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) to play an effective role in promoting regional cooperation.
During the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the two-day 9th ACD ministerial meeting in Tehran, Mottaki and Zarifi also exchanged views on bilateral cooperation in the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Economic Cooperation Organization and the ACD.
A troika meeting of the ACD was held in Tehran on Saturday attended by the previous, current, and future heads of the ACD.
Iran is the current head of the ACD, Sri Lanka was the former one and Kuwait will be the next one.
The ACD is a continent-wide forum created in 2002 which aims to promote cooperation among Asian countries and to help integrate other regional cooperation organizations.