Zarif hails productive Asian tour

"Iran's active diplomacy continues: Excellent meetings bet. President Hassan Rouhani & presidents of Tajikistan & Turkey and Emir of Qatar in Dushanbeh. Productive talks also held with Pres. & Chief Executive of Afghanistan. I had useful mtg w/ new FM of India," Zarif tweeted on Saturday.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, heading a delegation comprising of Foreign Minister Zarif, arrived in Dushanbe late Friday to attend the Fifth Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

CICA is an inter-governmental forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia.

The idea of convening the CICA was first proposed by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev on October 5, 1992, at the 47th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Iran, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Korea, China, Russia, India, Palestine, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan Republic and Thailand are among members of CICA.

Rouhani was in Tajikistan on the second leg of his trip taking him to Bishkek at the invitation of his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon.

Prior to departing for Bishkek, Rouhani delivered a speech in the 19th SCO Summit in Bishkek to expose Iran’s official stance on regional and international developments.

He held talks with his Chinese, Afghan and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of the summit on bilateral relations, regional developments and future of the JCPOA.

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