ECO Potentials Contribute to More Regional Coop: Iran's FM

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Friday that the potentials that the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) provides to member states will contribute to increased cooperation in the region.

Speaking at an online meeting of the 29th Meeting of the ECO Council of Ministers (COM) on Friday hosted by Kazakhstan, the Iranian foreign minister thanked the chairmanship of the meeting by Mr. Beibit Kulatayev, Director General of the Middle, Near East and Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.

Araqchi, who was the chairman of the previous ECO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting hosted by Iran, outlined the prospects for cooperation between member countries, referring to the developments in the ECO region since the previous meeting of foreign ministers over the past year.

He considered the most significant development over the past year to be the aggressive attack by the Zionist regime and the United States against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was met with a resolute defense by the Iranian armed forces. He said that the Tel Aviv regime and the US displayed a very dangerous model of lawlessness and disrespect for the principles of international law by their aggression.

He emphasized the important position of ECO in Iran’s foreign policy and regional diplomacy, and considered President Masoud Pezeshkian's presence at the ECO Summit in the Republic of Azerbaijan a clear sign of Iran’s determination to make maximum use of the capacities of the ECO countries for the collective economic development of the countries in the region.

The Iranian minister further considered the holding of the meetings of the ECO ministers of transport and ECO interior ministers in Iran, along with the meeting of the ECO trade ministers in Turkey, as one of the good events in the ECO region, which not only contributes to better understand the potentials of cooperation between member countries, but also will pave the way for further strengthening regional cooperation.

Later in his virtual speech, Araqchi addressed the process of formulating the ECO vision for the next 10 years. Referring to regional and global developments, he recalled the need to adapt the patterns governing economic cooperation in ECO to global developments.

At the meeting, the ECO chairmanship in 2026 was handed over to Pakistan. - Mehr