The Secretary General sent messages of felicitations on the ECO Day to Foreign Ministers of all Member States. The message, addressed to H.E. Mr. Manouchehr Mottaki, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is reproduced below:

It is with great pleasure that I extend to Your Excellency, the Government and the brotherly people of the Islamic Republic of Iran warmest felicitations on the auspicious occasion of the ECO Day, the 28th of November.  We celebrate the expansion of ECO this day in 1992 from a three-member state organization to its present strength of ten important countries.  This historic development did not merely expand our geographic canvas.  It harbingered a closer, more substantive regional cooperation.  It raised our sights to higher aims and ambitions.  We have become one family, sharing many a commonality in history and heritage, faith and outlook, geography and culture.  The ECO Day reminds us of all this and urges us on to pursue our goals with greater vigour and commitment.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has made most valuable contributions to bringing regional countries closer to each other.  It plays a leading role in ECO affairs which is rightly admired all across this family of nations.  I am grateful for Your Excellency’s personal support and guidance.

Please accept, Excellency, my best wishes for your health and well-being as well as for the continued peace and prosperity of the fraternal people of Iran.