Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said that trade exchanges between Iran and Tajikistan have more than doubled over the past three years.

IRNA reports that speaking at a press conference upon returning from his two-day visit to Dushanbe, the Iranian speaker said on October 11 that he had had cultural and social discussions with top-ranking Tajik officials.

He stressed that talks over economic and industrial cooperation had topped the agenda of his talks in Dushanbe, adding that in a meeting with the Tajik president, he had discussed reducing tariffs on inbound goods from each other’s countries.

Ghalibaf said that the issue of reduced tariffs is to be pursued in a joint commission of the two countries.  He added that he has also had discussions with Tajik officials over main regional security issues, including restoration of stability and security in Afghanistan, as well as fight against drug trafficking and arms smuggling.

Writing on his official X account earlier in the day, Ghalibaf had said that in his meeting with Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, he had presented him a copy of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh as well as a collection of the classifications of Iranian music recently unveiled by Hossein Alizadeh, an Iranian musician and composer.