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The ECO Secretary General’s meetings with the Executive Director of UNODC, Director General of UNIDO, Secretary General of OPEC and Secretary General of OPEC Fund in Vienna Report ( Vienna, 14 July, 2003 ) |
No. ECO(CU)/Visits/2003/2
Adptd.: August 6, 2003
H.E. Ambassador Seyed Mojtaba Arastou visited United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC) Headquarters, Vienna on the invitation of Executive Director H.E. Mr. Antonio Maria Costa on July 14, 2003.
Using the opportunity Secretary General also called on the Director General of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) H.E. Mr. Magarino and Secretary General of OPEC Fund H.E. Dr. Seyiid Abdulai and Secretary General of Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries (OPEC) H.E. Mr. Dr. Alvaro Silva-Calderon.
First, the Secretary General called on Director General of OPEC Fund H.E. Dr. Seyiid Abdulai at 0900 hours in his office. Director General appreciated the Secretary General’s call on him and said that there were several issues that the expert level staff were discussing at the OPEC Fund and ECO Secretariat, without making any progress. He stated that the two sides now could understand better each other with the help of their meeting.
Director General informed the secretary General that OPEC Fund was not interested in energy projects, as before, as they have now shifted their priorities. He also informed that they no longer could sponsor projects in investment or trade areas. Director General further informed that they have funds for HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign and they can use it for ECO.
Secretary General after hearing the briefing from Director General stated that it was good that two sides now understood each other better. Ambassador Arastou informed the Director General that ECO had recently organized a meeting on HIV/AIDS in Bishkek in June this year and could organize more such meetings in other ECO countries if OPEC Fund considers these for financing.
Director General agreed to the proposal in principle and asked for the details of HIV/AIDS conferences. He said that upon receipt of such proposals he could also talk to Executive Director of United Nations Fund for Population Affairs (UNFPA) and in consultation with her they could jointly make a program for ECO.
Secretary General appreciated the approach of Director General and stated that ECO also has made a Plan of Action for reconstruction in Afghanistan and would appreciate if parts of it could also be considered for technical assistance or funding. Director General agreed to consider the Plan of Action.
Finally the two sides agreed that there was a need for the informal meeting between the two sides at the expert level as this was a good mechanism for understanding each other and making progress in areas of common interest.
Next, the Secretary General met with H.E. Mr. Magarino, Director General of United Nations Industrial Development Organization. During the meeting Secretary General briefed the Director General about 2nd Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Investment in Islamabad on July 17, 2003. Secretary General explained to him about the objectives of the meeting. Secretary General also briefed the Director General about 1st Ministerial Meeting on Industry in October this year in which the Director General was invited by the Secretary General.
Secretary General also gave a copy of Plan of Action on Afghanistan and suggested the Director General to consider it for cooperation with ECO. Director General found the Plan interesting and asked his colleague to examine it and make proposals.
Director General also briefed the Secretary General about new areas where UNIDO was presently focusing. These are: accreditation, testing, standardization, conformity assessment and quality promotion system. Secretary General agreed that he would instruct his concerned Directorates to develop plans in these areas too.
Secretary General requested the Director General to assist ECO by sending a Consultant and financing the preparation of industrial cooperation strategy and Plan of Action for 1st ECO Ministerial Meeting on Industry. Director General agreed to review the ECO proposal and requested ECO to keep following up the issue at the Headquarters as well as in Tehran with UNIDO Representative Office.
After the meeting in the UNIDO Headquarters, the Secretary General called on Executive Director of United Nations Office on Drug Control, H.E. Mr. Antonio Maria Costa.
Welcoming the Secretary General, the Executive Director of UNODC, H.E. Mr. Antonio Maria Costa stated that regional organizations were very important United Nations partners. Their biggest asset was political support (to them) by their constituting countries. He solicited ECO’s support for several UN Conventions in trafficking, smuggling, firearms etc. He informed that several ECO countries had not signed/ratified these conventions. Secretary General suggested a formal request in this regard with complete details, so that it could be put before member states.
Executive Director also suggested an information mechanism like Europol or Interpol in ECO region and stated that in this regard he has support from one of the ECO member states. Secretary General requested him to send the details of this project also for consideration by member states.
Executive Director informed that he wanted to go to Afghanistan on some drug issues. Secretary General invited him to visit ECO Secretariat’s Drug Control Coordination Unit. The Executive Director accepted the invitation and stated that he might visit Islamic Republic of Iran in October this year and would use the opportunity to see and get briefing from Drug Control Coordination Unit in Tehran.
Secretary General informed the Executive Director that DCCU was in the process of organizing a focal point meeting in October this year and has already implemented certain parts of the project like capacity building of ECO member states’ focal points.
Before departing, the two sides appreciated the content of the meeting and expressed their intention to further build up on the already existing level of relations.
Secretary General later called on H.E. Dr. Alvaro Silva-Calderon, Secretary General of Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries (OPEC). H.E. Dr. Calderon is working on a fill gap arrangement basis before the taking over of charge by the new Secretary General for OPEC. OPEC Secretary General agreed with the proposal of cooperating in the proposed workshop on “Survey on International Oil and Gas Markets” before the 2nd ECO Ministerial Meeting on Energy/Petroleum due to be organized in Tehran by NIOC in 2003, so that it’s outcome could be incorporated in the deliberations of the ministerial meeting. However, Mr. Calderon suggested that this matter be taken up with his staff. He also suggested that OPEC is also in the position to share its expertise on databank with the ECO and in this regard too, his staff could be contacted.
H.E. Calderon further stated that his organization was ready to cooperate with ECO and suitable mode of cooperation can be developed at the expert level meeting of the two organizations.
After the meeting with Secretary General of OPEC, H.E. Dr. Alvaro Silva-Calderon, Ambassador Arastou left for the airport to fly to Pakistan to attend 2nd Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Investment.