In a Saturday meeting with Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the 5th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Tajikistan, Rouhani hailed the “brotherly and friendly” ties between Tehran and Doha.
Expansion of relations with the neighboring and friendly countries, particularly with Qatar, is a constant priority of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy, Rouhani said, adding, “The stability and security of regional countries are interlinked.”
Rouhani also referred to “bilateral and multilateral consultations” as the only way to ease tensions and resolve regional conflicts.
He further called for efforts to tap into the ample economic opportunities for strong relations between Iran and Qatar in order to serve the interests of the two nations.
For his part, the Qatari emir voiced his country’s readiness to broaden ties with Iran in all fields of mutual interest.
Qatar believes that all conflicts in the region could be settled only through dialogue, collective cooperation and political solutions, Al Thani underlined.
Heading a ranking delegation, Rouhani arrived in Dushanbe on Friday night after a trip to Kyrgyzstan where he took part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
The ongoing CICA summit in Dushanbe is designed to serve as a platform for discussing and resolving problems in Asia, as well as for promoting initiatives and finding effective mechanisms at a high level.
The idea of formation of CICA was first brought up by Kazakhstan’s outgoing President Nursultan Nazarbayev in October 1992, during the 47th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.