Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited Afghanistan on March 27 to join the Nowruz festival in Kabul.

During the visit, Rouhani met with other heads of Persian-speaking countries on the sidelines of the festival.

The international celebrations of Nowruz started in Kabul on March 27. Presidents of Turkmenistan, Iran, Tajikistan and high-ranking officials of the countries marking Nowruz participated at the events.

Rouhani, along with Afghan and Tajik presidents Hamid Karzai and Emomali Rahmon, discussed mutual relations and cooperation to secure the stability and peace in the region, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

The presidents emphasized boosting ties "among the three Persian speaking countries as well as strengthening the use of Persian language."

On the sidelines of Nowruz festival, Rouhani also attended a quartet meeting of the Iranian, Afghan, Tajik and Pakistani presidents during which the four presidents called for further cooperation as well as regional unity.

Many presidents, foreign ministers, senior officials and dignitaries from 11 countries had attended the Nowruz festival in Kabul.

Rouhani called on countries celebrating Nowruz to form a regional unity aimed at boosting progress and living standards of regional countries.

Before the visit Rouhani told journalists that the countries of the region need mutual cooperation. He also said the meeting would benefit both Afghanistan which suffers from terrorism, extremism and internal tension and the countries of the entire region.

President Rouhani is accompanied by Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif, Vice-President Masoud Soltani-Far and his cultural advisor Hessameddin Ashena in his visit to Afghanistan.

On February 23, 2010, at the initiative of Azerbaijan, the UN General Assembly adopted a decision to declare March 21 the International Day of Nowruz.

The first international ceremony of celebrating Nowruz was held in Iran in 2011. The following celebrations were organized in Dushanbe (capital of Tajikistan) in 2012 and in Ashgabat (capital of Turkmenistan) in 2013.