The Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), H.E. Dr. Hadi Soleimanpour held a meeting with the Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP), Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana on 11 June 2019 in Tehran on the sidelines of the 1st Asia Pacific Innovation Forum (APIF).
During the meeting, the Secretary General and the Executive Secretary held a candid discussion on issues of mutual interest and focused on ways and means to enhance constructive cooperation between ECO and UNESCAP. The Secretary General briefed the Executive Secretary about the achievements of ECO and highlighted the key features of ECO Vision 2025. The ECO Secretary General noted the increasingly important role being played by ESCAP at regional and sub-regional levels. The ECO Secretary General appreciated the work and activities being carried out by ESCAP in the ECO region and thanked the ESCAP on its recent support on ECO’s initiative to commercialize the railway between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran (KTI). The Secretary General added that ECO Secretariat is ready to work closely with ESCAP on the common priority areas at all levels including policy coordination and project implementation.
The Executive Secretary of ESCAP appreciated the initiatives launched by ECO in different sectors aimed at utilizing the collective potential of the region to achieve sustainable development goals and promoting regional integration among the member states. She assured the Secretary General of her organization’s support for the realization of common goals of socio-economic development in the region and beyond.
Taking note of the overlapping membership and convergence in objectives, the two sides stressed on the need to adopt necessary measures to further strengthen the cooperative relationship between ECO and UNESCAP. In this regard, both sides also expressed their readiness to review and update the existing MoU between the two organizations.
