A part of his official two-day visit to Iran, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon yesterday met in Tehran with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

According to the Tajik president’s official website, the parties discussed issues of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran.

They, in particular, discussed ways of expanding inter-parliamentary cooperation between the two countries and expansion of legal foundation for cooperation in various fields.  

Rahmon and Ghalibaf reportedly also discussed issues of expanding trade and economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran and attracting investment in Tajikistan’s economy.  

Meanwhile Iran’s Mehr News Agency (MNA) says Rahmon and Ghalibaf emphasized the need for expanding relations in political, economic, scientific and technological fields.

Iranian parliament speaker, in particular, noted that amicable relations between the two countries have witnessed considerable progresses in the recent months but the two countries enjoy high capacities to further develop their relations.

Turning to the policy of 13th government under President Raisi which gives priority to the development of relations with neighboring states, Ghalibaf stated that as a neighboring country, Iran attaches great importance to expand its cooperation with Tajikistan since the two countries share commonalities in terms of language, civilization and culture and this is an opportunity to deepen political, economic and cultural relations between the two countries.

Tajik president, in turn, reportedly pointed to the longstanding history of the two countries and rich cultural and historical commonalities such as Nowruz celebrations and said that Islamic Republic of Iran has gained salient achievements in recent years and progress of Iran in the field of peaceful nuclear technology and nullification of sanctions show that Iran is moving towards progress and development.

Emomali Rahmon stated that his country is ready to cooperate and enhance its relations with Iran in all fields, MNA said.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (born August 23, 1961) is an Iranian conservative politician and former military officer who held office as the Mayor of Tehran from 2005 to 2017. Ghalibaf was formerly Iran's Chief of police from 2000 to 2005 and commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Air Force from 1997 to 2000.  Ghalibaf was elected as the Speaker of Iran’s Parliament in 2020.  

Ghalibaf is often regarded a perennial candidate in the presidential elections.  He was a candidate in the 2013 presidential election but lost to Hassan Rouhani, in second place with 6,077,292 of the votes. He was also a candidate in the 2005 presidential election.  He announced his run for a third time in the 2017 election.  However, he withdrew on May 15, 2017 in favor of Ebrahim Raisi's candidacy.