'President Rahmon's leadership is a source of great strength for India- Tajikstan relationship': PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hailed Tajikistan President Emomalii Rahmon and said that his personal commitment and leadership was a source of great strength for the relationship of both the countries.

"Let me start my expressing my deep appreciation and gratitude to President Rahmon and to the people of Tajikistan for a warm welcome and hospitality. I am delighted to visit Tajikistan. It is a beautiful country. This is the last stop of my visit to the five Central Asian countries. But we sometimes save the special one for the last. We share deep cultural, historical and civilisational links," he said in a statement here.

Prime Minister Modi stressed that Tajikistan is nearest to India among all Central Asian countries and the two nations are separated by a narrow corridor.

"Our linguistic links are the closet in Central Asia. Today, we have formed a deep bond on the basis of our shared aspirations for security and prosperity for our people and peace and stability in our region. It is a great pleasure to meet President Rahmon. We met briefly in Ufa. His personal commitment and leadership is a source of great strength for our relationship," he added.

The Prime Minister also said that the two leaders discussed measures to tap the rich potential in trade and commerce and to encourage joint ventures and investments.

"We have talked our joint commission to met soon and finalise a concrete roadmap to expand our trade and economic ties. Agriculture is important to both of our economies. I am delighted that President Rahmon and I will address a workshop on advancing our cooperation in agriculture, later today," he added.

Prime Minister Modi further said that connectivity is vital for realising a full potential of trade and commerce between our countries.

"We agreed to promote and the International North-South Transport Corridor, other connectivity initiatives such as our plant investment in Chabahar port in Iran. But we also hope that we can establish a direct link to India that would promote prosperity across the region," he added.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held restricted talks with the Tajik President here.

He was also accorded a ceremonial welcome in Tajikistan, which is the last stop of his Central Asian tour.

The last prime ministerial visit to Tajikistan was by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in November 2003.