Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on a visit Monday to Tajikistan said the two countries would cooperate on regional security.
Ahmadinejad, on his first international trip since a crackdown on opposition supporters in Tehran Dec. 27 left at least eight dead, held talks with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rakhmon.
"We will make efforts to ensure security and prevent challenges," Ahmadinejad told journalists after the talks. "We are following the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the region, and we want peace and stability to be established as soon as possible."
Islamist Taliban militants have stepped up a violent campaign in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Rakhmon said the meeting had also "expressed support for the realisation of Iran's peaceful nuclear programmes and the resolution of this problem through talks and political and diplomatic methods."
The U.S., Israel and other world powers suspect Iran is making a nuclear bomb under the guise of a civilian programme, something Iran vehemently denies. Tehran is under threat of more sanctions over its nuclear activities.
Ahmadinejad also said that Iran intended to continue investing in energy, agriculture and other spheres in Tajikistan.
It has already put around $200 million into the construction of a hydroelectric power station in Tajikistan that is expected to open at the end of the year.
The two leaders signed a preliminary memorandum saying that Iran would invest in the construction of a second hydroelectric power station.
Ahmadinejad was later due to meet the speaker of the Tajik parliament and members of the Iranian diaspora in Tajikistan.
He was scheduled to travel on to Turkmenistan Tuesday to meet President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and for a ceremony Wednesday to open a gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and Iran.
The presidents were to take part in a ceremony Wednesday to open a gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and Iran. The pipeline will lessen energy-rich Turkmenistan's reliance on exports to Russia.