ECO Secretary General, H.E. Ambassador Seyed Mojtaba Arastou met with Colombo Plan Secretary General, H.E. Dr. U. Sarat Chandran on May 13, 2003 during his visit to Colombo, Sri Lanka.

 The Secretary General of ECO and the Secretary General of Colombo Plan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Colombo Plan Secretariat in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 13 May 2003.

 The Memorandum envisages cooperation in Human Resource and Small & Medium Scale Enterprise Development, Trade & Investment Promotion and Prevention and Control of Drug Abuse in the region.  It calls for addressing all development issues and concerns and exchange of relevant experiences through ECO’s and Colombo Plan’s mechanisms of ECDC-TCDC (Economic and Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries).  In the Memorandum it was also emphasized that the two organizations will follow up the mechanism of implementation of the MoU.

 Broad discussions were held by the two Secretaries General to synergize the activities of the two organisations.  The Secretary General of ECO, Ambassador Arastou laid emphasis on regional cooperation as an effective module of development.  He also stressed on the importance of cooperation between regional organisations for complementing each other’s efforts.  He stated that expectations from the regional organisations  are increasing day-by-day and the regional organisations  must deliver upon the development objectives.  Elaborating further he shed light on the positive outcome for the institutionalised Meeting of Executive Heads of Sub Regional Organisations with ESCAP. 

 He informed the Colombo Plan Secretary General that the 8^th Meeting of the Executive Heads will be organised by ECO in Tehran.  He stated that such cooperation between regional organisations will go a long way in stabilizing the economic condition in the concerned regions in particular, and the world in general. 

 He informed that the new institution of Asia-Africa Sub Regional Cooperation Organisation Meeting will help develop better understanding between Asia and Africa and be able to make substantial progress in that direction. 

On the cooperation between ECO and Colombo Plan, he stated that there were several similarities in their objectives and therefore it would be natural for the two organisations to try to develop common projects.  In this regard he lauded the role of the Colombo Plan to initiate a workshop on Drug Demand Reduction involving spiritual elements in the ECO region. 

 In the end of discussion both Secretaries General agreed to enhance cooperation between the two organisations as both share several common members.  They also agreed to work together to avail of all available international support for their common objectives, as this is the express desire of their member states too.

 Secretary General of ECO, H.E. Ambassador Syed Mojtaba Arastou also thanked the Secretary General of Colombo Plan H.E. Dr. U. Sarat Chandran for making excellent arrangements for the signing ceremony of the MoU.  He invited him to visit the ECO Secretariat and participate in ECO’s Council of Ministers Meeting – the highest decision making body of ECO scheduled to be held in Bishkek on June 11, 2003.