Russian expert: Iran as counterweight to Russia in cooperation with Tajikistan

The leadership of Tajikistan wants to demonstrate that it can use Iran as a counterweight in relations with Russia, so the results of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Dushanbe are widely discussed in the country, said Russian expert on CIS and Central Asia Leonid Gusev.

The Iranian leader paid a visit to Tajikistan on January 4-5. The result of negotiations between the two leaders was the signing of six new documents in the field of energy, transport, communications, agriculture, creation of joint enterprises on processing agricultural products.

"Now much attention is given to this in Tajikistan, because the leadership of Tajikistan needs to show Russia that Dushanbe can use Iran as a counterweight in its relationship with it," Senior Fellow at the Institute of International Studies of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Moscow State Institute of the International Relations, Gusev, told Trend News via e-mail.

According to him, the main thing here is the disputable issues in the energy and water use.

One of the major joint projects of Tajikistan and Iran is Sangtuda HPP-2, constructed by Iranian experts on the Vakhsh River. The design capacity of power plant is 220 MW. The cost of construction is estimated at $180 million. The first phase of the plant is planned to be launched by the end of this year.

Also in Dushanbe was signed a memorandum on the development of a feasibility study for Aynin HPP on the Zeravshan River with a capacity of 150 MWt and expressed the possibility of constructing Shurab hydropower plant on the Vakhsh River. The sides assure that construction of these facilities will begin after the launch of Sangtuda HPP2.

According to Gusev, the economic cooperation between Iran and Tajikistan is not news. "Recently signed documents indicate only that the cooperation between the two countries continues," said the expert.

The President of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon's statement that he and his government supports Iran's nuclear program is actively discussed in the media outlets.

However, according to Gusev, this statement will not have special significance either for Iran or for Tajikistan. This problem will be resolved in a different place and by other members of the international community, the analyst believes.

No consequences will be for Tajikistan due to that the country plays an important role for the functioning of the antiterrorist coalition in Afghanistan. The Central Asian republic has a long border with Afghanistan.

/Trend News/