Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said security concerns are among the main root causes of ECO’s lack of progress in establishing a positive regional convergence.
Addressing a meeting of the Interior Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization’s member states here on Wednesday, Pour-Mohammadi voiced pleasure with the development and deepening of relations among the member states, and said that the profound understanding of the harmful consequences of security threats and their impacts on the economic growth of the member states caused security challenges to be placed on the working agenda of Tehran meeting.
Reminding that the previous ECO summits in Dushanbe and Baku have stressed the need for dealing with the concerns of the member states, he stressed the achievements to be gained in the Tehran meeting will be the result of an effort to remove shared problems.
The official said: ECO, in comparison with other regional organizations, has not made a good progress in encouraging and materializing positive regional convergence due to the security issues, and stated that security and sustainable development and growth in the region are such tightly interrelated phenomena that economic growth and welfare may not be materialized without the existence of a single approach for fighting against security problems.
Reminding that terrorism is threatening the extent of lands within ECO’s geography more than any other world region, he added that the tight link between terrorism and security related crimes require presentation of a comprehensive look and a precise definition for the particulars and nature of terrorism, identification of its aftermaths and adoption of a joint solution in the ECO region.
The Interior Minister further pointed to the problem of drug trafficking, reminding that the Islamic Republic of Iran has spared no effort in the campaign against smuggle of illicit drugs, including development of regional cooperation and full technical and material assistance to Afghanistan as well as revision of border control systems, exchange of information and data, establishment of joint border checkpoints, and educational and training cooperation.
“Adopting the said measures, we have helped regional countries encounter drug trafficking and, thus, remove one of their major security problems,” he continued.
To end his words, Pour-Mohammadi elaborated on the political, social and psychological grounds of terrorism and other regional challenges, and stressed the need for the exchange of experiences and information by the member states in this regard.
