DUSHANBE, June 15, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- On Friday June 15, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received visiting Iran’s Vice-President for Parliament Affairs Lotfollah Forouzandeh Dehkordi.

The president’s official website reports that the two discussed a broad range of issues related to bilateral economic cooperation between Tajikistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

They, in particular, considered a two-way trade between their countries and bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran in the energy sector with focus on the completion of construction of the Sangtuda-2 hydroelectric power plant and the beginning of construction of the Ayni HPP in Tajikistan.

In the course of the talks, Emomali Rahmon and Lotfollah Forouzandeh reportedly expressed satisfaction with activities of 150 Iranian companies operating in Tajikistan.

In 2011, a two-trade between Tajikistan and Iran reached 204 million U.S. dollars.  However, Tajik leader noted that there was considerable room for expansion of economic ties between the two countries, the source said.

According to the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI), construction of a 170MW Ayni HPP on the Zarafshon River in the Tajik northern Sughd province should start after introduction of introduction of the Sangtuda-2 HPP into operation.  The source at a MoEI says Iran’s Farab Company is expected to construct the Ayni hydropower plant.

A letter of understanding related to Dushanbe-Tehran cooperation on construction of a dam and a power plant was signed in Dushanbe in early January of 2010.   The document was signed between Tajikistan’s Ministry of Energy and Industries and Barqi Tojik (Tajik electricity supplier) Power Holding and Iran’s Farab Company.

Farab Co began operating as a main contractor for water projects in 1992 and after simultaneous implementation of a few big water projects during 2002-2003, has expanded its operations to other water-and-energy related fields.

We will recall that Iran’s vice-president arrived in Dushanbe Friday for a short visit.  He handed over to Tajik leader an invitation from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the 16th summit meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member countries that will take place in Tehran from August 30-31.