DUSHANBE, May 20, 2010, Asia-Plus -- Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi held talks with his counterparts from member nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) here yesterday on sidelines of the ongoing 37 the session of the OOIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), according to the Tajik MFA information department.

His meeting with Kazakhstan’s Secretary of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs also the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Kanat Saudabayev focused on cooperation between Tajikistan and Kazakhstan within OSCE and OIC as well as problems of the Central Asian region.  Saudabayev invited Zarifi to pay an official visit to Kazakhstan.

During the talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Zarifi expressed gratitude to the Government of Iran for support for holding of the 37th session of the OIC CFM.

In the meantime, Iran’s news agency IRNA reports that Zarifi and Mottaki inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on conducting technical studies for construction of a rail link connecting two countries.  As per the MoU, the railway will connect Tajikistan to Tehran via Afghanistan.

Yesterday, the Tajik foreign minister also met with Mr. Yahya Maroufi, Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).  The two exchanged views on issues related to trade and economic cooperation.

Zairif yesterday also held meetings with a number of other foreign ministers from the OIC member nations to discuss cooperation issues.