Visit of the Secretary-General of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) to the ECO Secretariat, Tehran (May 13, 2013)
H. E. Professor Dr. Rahmat Mohamad, Secretary-General of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO), visited the ECO Secretariat on May 13, 2013, to meet H.E. Dr. Shamil Aleskerov, the Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
At the very beginning, the ECO Secretary General welcomed Dr. Mohamad to the Secretariat. He briefed the AALCO Secretary-General about the activities of ECO, its objectives and current programmes in various fields of activities. The visiting dignitary was also informed about the different areas in which ECO is promoting cooperation among the member states, including transport and communications, trade and investment, agriculture and industrial development, energy and minerals, human resource development, economic research and anti narcotics and trafficking.
The Secretary-General of AALCO apprised the ECO Secretray General about the role of AALCO as an advisory body to its Member States in the field of international law and as a forum for Asian-African co-operation in legal matters of common concern. He also informed that AALCO is the only organization comprising countries from Asia and Africa which deliberates on issues related to international law and makes recommendations to governments of its Member States. The founding members of ECO - Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, are also members of AALCO. The Secretary General of AALCO also expressed the desire to seek ECO’s help in extending its membership to Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and the Central Asian countries, which constitute the remaining membership of ECO.
The heads of the two organizations agreed that AALCO and ECO could organize a joint seminar or workshop on trade related arbitration. The Secretary-General of AALCO also highlighted that his Organization was in a good position to help the ECO Member States in building their capacity in legal issues pertaining to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Both sides noted that services of AALCO Regional Arbitration Centre in Tehran could also be used to develop cooperation between the two organizations.