Joint meeting of foreign ministers of ECO and ASEAN countries held in New York

The foreign ministers and senior officials of the member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) discussed ways of regional economic cooperation at a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly .

 

The foreign ministers and senior officials of the member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) discussed ways of regional economic cooperation at a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday.

 

In the meeting, which was held under the joint chairmanship of Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and his Malaysian counterpart Mohamad Hasan, the top diplomats and envoys of 20 member states of the two important regional organizations exchanged views on how to work together for the purpose of strengthening economic relations and interactions.

 

Addressing the opening ceremony of the meeting, Araghchi called ECO and ASEAN the oldest regional economic organizations in the developing world, saying their cooperation can provide a successful model for regional cooperation to all countries in addition to helping the member nations of the Global South.

 

At the end of the meeting, a joint press release was published simultaneously by ECO and ASEAN. The statement referred to the memorandum of understanding reached in 2006, announcing the decision of the two organizations to broaden the area of their cooperation in food security and agriculture.  

 

Before the meeting, foreign ministers and senior officials of ECO member states held talks over the latest status of cooperation in ECO in an informal meeting chaired by Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi.

 

In the meeting, ECO’s new Secretary General Asad Majeed Khan presented a report to the members on the current status of cooperation within the grouping.

 

The official meeting of ECO foreign ministers is scheduled to be held in Tehran this December