Nowruz Festival a Chance to Boost Diplomacy

11 March 2012 | 21:46 Code : 1898913 Asia & Africa
Iran could use the new year festival in tajikistan to improve ties with its northern neighbors.
Nowruz Festival a Chance to Boost Diplomacy

On March 25, 2012, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will pay a visit to Tajikistan in order to attend the regional Nowruz confab, a festival initiated two years ago by Iran. A primarily cultural event, Tehran could utilize the confab to boost relations with its Persian-speaking neighbors amid endurance of accumulating international sanctions to keep open windows to economic cooperation with the outside world.

 

At the time of the first and second festivals --hosted by Tehran, Iran was already engaged in a tough battle with the West, facing diverse punitive measures, but far less comparable to the current circumstances, where global banks are banned from interaction with their Iranian counterparts and Iran’s oil exports find fewer customers as the EU and the United States have decided to tighten the cordon.

 

The third Nowruz festival scheduled to be held on the sixth of Farvardin 1391 (March 25, 2012) will be attended by fifteen regional states including Turkey, the Repulic of Azerbaijan, Central Asian republics etc.). As a prelude, Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi has already made a tour to Central Asian and Caucasian states to prepare the climate for fruitful bilateral talks --although his recent visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan could be interpreted more as a move to alleviate the mounting tensions between Tehran and Baku.

 

Within the recent weeks, in Iran’s southern borders, blockage of fiscal transactions –particularly in the UAE, Tehran’s key Arab trade partner- has gained momentum, creating further challenges for Iran. The Iranian Embassy in the UAE has geared up diplomatic efforts to tackle, or at least contain, the existing impediments.

 

At such circumstances, Ahmadinejad’s attendance in the Nowruz festival bears deeper meaning, moving beyond cultural and nationalistic discourses. Except for the Republic of Azerbaijan --and occassionally Turkmenistan, Tehran’s lukewarm relations with the Caucasian states and Central Asian republics has rarely faced sinuations. This could hardly be regarded an advantage at the moment and aware of that, Iran is seeking ways to upgrade ties, and break the barriers against its regional influence.

 

Expansion of bilateral relations with Nowruz partners, particularly in the area of economics, will most likely be on the top of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s agenda in his March visit. But as an imperative to reinforcing relations with northern neighbors, Iranian officials should avoid controversial comments that could undermine the potentials of closer ties and move Iran’s neighbors further towards the Western powers.