H.E.Seyed Mojtaba Arastou, ECO Secretary General, returning back from the 1^st ECO Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture, held in Islamabad

Press Release

H. E. Seyed Mojtaba Arastou, ECO Secretary General, returning back from the 1^st ECO Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture, held in Islamabad on 23-25 July 2002, in an interview expressed his views on the issue.

            ECO Secretary General stated that one the major priorities of the Organization is to hold meetings on Ministerial level on the six main areas of the activities of the Organization which have been approved by the ECO Council of Ministers and ECO Summit Meeting. Referring to the important issue of the participation of five Ministers of Agriculture from Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, as well as other high ranking officials from the other Member States, he stressed on tackling with the existing problems in the field of Agriculture and supply of food in the ECO region.

            He added that in the inaugural ceremony of the meeting, first the Minister of Agriculture of Pakistan pointed out some important issues on the subject of cooperation of the ECO members in the field of agriculture. Then ECO Secretary General on his statement mentioning the Treaty of Izmir as the main charter of the organization, referred to its content about taking advantage of the agricultural capacities of the Member States, and stressed on the establishment of Data Bank in order to exchanging information about agricultural products and trade of such products among the members, as a necessary subject to be considered. Afterwards, General Pervez Mosharaf, Pakistan President, on his inaugural speech stated that from Pakistan point of view ECO is one of the most important means foe regional cooperation and also referred to the possibility of supplying food requirements of the region through promoting the agricultural capacities of the Member States.

            In this meeting for the first time a declaration was adopted on Agricultural Cooperation among the ECO Member States. In this declaration beside mentioning the possibility of exchange of agricultural and cattle products, it is decided that the ECO Member States would contribute to the reconstruction of Afghanistan, specially in the field of agriculture, as well as establishing a fund at the Economic Cooperation Organization for this purpose. According to this declaration, the 2^nd ECO Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture would be held some time in the middle of the year 2003 in Istanbul, Turkey.

             H. E. Seyed Mojtaba Arastou, also added that on the sideline of the said meeting and on the occasion of assuming the post of ECO Secretary General, he has held fruitful meetings with President, Foreign Minister and Deputy Foreign Minister of Pakistan, while reporting on the ongoing activities of the Organization.

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