TEHRAN - A Tajik trade delegation, headed by the country’s deputy minister of Industry and New Technologies, visited Tehran on Saturday to meet with Iran’s transport officials and discuss the expansion of ties, IRNA reported.

Upon arrival, the delegation attended a meeting with Deputy Transport Minister Shahriyar Afandizadeh, during which the two sides conferred on the promotion of bilateral and multilateral transport ties via different transport modes.

They also said that they are determined to increase trade and transit as per mutual interests.

The officials also emphasized the need for using various international corridors in the region, noting that the two countries should advance transit in relations with other involving countries including Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.

Speaking in this meeting, Afandizadeh mentioned Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran (KTAI) and ECO corridors as the most important routes for transit between Iran and Tajikistan, saying that these corridors should be more actively operated.

“Iran is ready for any cooperation in various sectors of transportation, including road, rail, sea, and air,” the deputy minister said.

The official further noted that Iranian ports also welcome investment by Tajikistan’s private sector, and given the existence of common corridors, the two sides can have bilateral or multilateral cooperation.

Iran can provide landlocked Tajikistan access to the high seas through the Chabahar Port (to the south) and Amirabad Port (to the north), similarly, Tajikistan can ease transit to China, the official said.

“We need to increase road and rail transit corridors and bring other countries along the way,” he stressed.

Afandizadeh also suggested that the two sides should consider the mutual elimination or reduction of tolls on the road passageways between the two countries.

The two sides also decided to form a transport committee to discuss ways of expanding cooperation and set goals in trade and transport with the presence of the officials and the private sector representatives of the two countries.

Iran and Tajikistan have resumed their relations following the meeting of the presidents of the two countries in September 2021 during the SCO summit in Dushanbe and in May 2022 in Tehran.

EF/