DUSHANBE, August 6, 2010, Asia-Plus -- Addressing the tripartite summit of the leaders of Tajikistan, Iran, and Afghanistan in Tehran yesterday evening, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon offered to establish the tripartite council for cooperation in the fields of economics, investment, and culture, according to the Tajik presidential press service.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan supported the Tajik leader’s initiative.

The leaders of the Persian-speaking countries of Iran, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan have discussed cooperation between their countries in the fields of trade, transport and communications, energy, industry, education and science, health, and culture.

A special attention has been paid to implementation of joint projects for construction of highways and railway links connecting the three countries as well as construction of hydropower plants and electricity transmission lines from Tajikistan via Afghanistan to Iran.

The sides expressed interest in creation of mechanism of interaction among Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China in developing transit opportunities.

Foreign ministers of the three countries signed a memorandum on the establishment of a joint commission, which is to control implementation of decisions made at the Tehran summit and the leaders of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Iran yesterday signed a joint statement in the context of the tripartite summit, the Tajik presidential press service said.

According to Iran’s IRNA, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President Hamid Karzai and President Emomali Rahmon acknowledged civilian nature of Iranian nuclear program and said that the nations have the right to produce nuclear energy in line with Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Safeguards Agreement of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  They called for expediting implementation of the agreements already signed by the three countries and agreed to hold the fifth tripartite meeting in Kabul.

The first trilateral meeting took place in Dushanbe in 2006, the leaders of Tajikistan, Iran, and Afghanistan also held talks on sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in 2008 and their last meeting took place in March 2009.