TEHRAN — Iran and Tajikistan have reached an agreement to sign a long term contract for the export of petroleum products and the supply of crude oil to Tajikistan’s refineries.
Iran’s Petroleum Minister, Mohsen Paknejad, in his Saturday meeting with Tajikistan’s Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Daler Juma, and Minister of Transport, Azim Ibrohim, announced the finalization of the framework for a long term agreement between the two countries.
The negotiations focused on the possibility of exporting Iran’s surplus petroleum products to address some of the energy challenges faced by Tajikistan, he said.
The two sides, the minister said, agreed on setting up a working group to examine the technical and logistical details of the cooperation.
The agreement can resolve Tajikistan’s fuel challenges amid the global energy crisis and increase the volume of bilateral trade to over 800,000 metric tons, he stated.
Meanwhile, Juma lauded Iran’s goodwill, and said that Dushanbe’s primary objective is to increase imports of fuel products from Tehran.
In the meantime, Ibrohim said that the current volume of trade between the two countries is approximately 800,000 tons (less than one million tons).
“We will examine routes for transporting petroleum products,” he said. “The current infrastructure can handle this volume, but given plans to increase shipments, measures must be taken to expand transportation and logistics capacity.”
Ibrohim said Tajikistan will also hold talks with neighboring countries to secure the infrastructure needed for larger shipments.
“We will discuss the issue with our counterparts in neighboring countries and hope that, if imports of crude oil and petroleum products from Iran increase, we can provide the necessary infrastructure to transport these shipments,” he said.
After the working groups begin their mission, this volume will increase significantly, and the necessary logistical infrastructure for the transfer of fuel and crude oil will be provided, he noted.