When the president of Tajikistan heard a young schoolmaster reciting poems in praise of "the leader of the nation and founder of peace in Tajikistan” during a regional visit, he had only one response.

Find this man a wife, ordered Emomali Rahmon who also called on officials in the south-western Khatlon region to pay for the wedding, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Matchmaking committees were despatched, and last week Saidsho Asrorov, 23, married Marjona Hudoidodova, 22, whose one requirement was that her bridegroom allowed her to continue working as a nurse.

Arranged marriages remain common in rural parts of Tajikistan, although it is rare for the president himself to play Cupid.

"I was worried and excited during my speech," he told RFE/RL last month after his recital. "The president asked me about my life and family. He asked if I was married. I answered 'no.'

“Then he instructed the district leadership to decide on my marriage. And in just days, my wedding will take place."

The deputy chairwoman of the local department of ideology was deputed to lead the search.

Mr Asarorov himself suggested he would like to marry the daughter of a colleague, Miss Hudoidodova, who had never met her admirer.