DUSHANBE: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan Monday for talks with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rakhmon to be followed by a visit to Turkmenistan. It is Ahmadinejad's first international trip after a bloody crackdown on opposition supporters in Tehran on December 27 when at least eight people died and hundreds were injured.

"The central theme will be the economy, as well as questions of security," Tajik foreign ministry spokesman Davlat Nazriyev told AFP.

The leaders were due to discuss Iran's investment of around 200 million dollars in the construction of a hydroelectric power station in Tajikistan expected to open at the end of the year, the spokesman said.

Ahmadinejad was also scheduled to meet Iranians living in Tajikistan and to visit a medical clinic funded by Iran.

He was scheduled to travel on to the Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan on Tuesday to meet President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

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.