Iranian president visits Central Asia

After talks with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rakhmon, Ahmadinejad told journalists the two countries would cooperate on regional security.

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“We will make efforts to ensure security and prevent challenges,” he said. “We are following the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the region, and we want peace and stability to be established as soon as possible.”

Islamist Taliban militants have stepped up a violent campaign in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Rakhmon said the meeting had also “expressed support for the realisation of Iran’s peaceful nuclear programmes and the resolution of this problem through talks and political and diplomatic methods”.

The United States, Israel and other world powers suspect Tehran is making a nuclear bomb under the guise of a civilian programme, something Iran vehemently denies. Tehran is under threat of more sanctions over its nuclear activities.

Ahmadinejad also said that Tehran intended to continue investing in energy, agriculture and other spheres in Tajikistan, an impoverished country that depends on earnings sent back by migrant workers.

Iran has already put around 200 million dollars into the construction of a hydroelectric power station in Tajikistan that is expected to open at the end of the year.

The two leaders signed a preliminary memorandum saying that Iran would invest in the construction of a second hydroelectric power station in northern Tajikistan.

Dushanbe also invited Tehran to take part in oil and gas prospecting and extraction in Tajikistan, the country’s energy minister, Sherali Gul, told journalists.

Tajikistan gets 95 percent of its natural gas from Uzbekistan, the main supplier of natural gas to neighbouring countries.

Ahmadinejad was later due to meet the speaker of the Tajik parliament and members of the Iranian diaspora in Tajikistan.

Under Rakhmon, who has ruled the nation of almost 7.5 million since shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan has moved to develop ties with Iran, a major importer of Tajik cotton and aluminium.

The two countries also share cultural ties and a common language: the Tajik language is a variant of Persian, the language spoken in Iran, although it is written in Cyrillic script.

Ahmadinejad was scheduled to travel on to the Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan on Tuesday to meet President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and for a ceremony Wednesday to open a gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and Iran.

Ahmadinejad’s government has come under heavy Western criticism for its crackdown on opposition supporters in December 27 protests in which at least eight people died and hundreds were arrested.

The protests were the bloodiest since demonstrations that erupted directly after a contested June vote that gave Ahmadinejad another term. Authorities said 36 protesters were killed although the opposition put the toll at 72.