Tehran to host ACD meeting

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says Tehran is set to host the 9th ministerial meeting of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) on November 8 and 9.

Mehmanparast said on Saturday that foreign ministers from 31 Asian countries are expected to attend the conference, IRINN reported.

The official noted that the meeting is a good opportunity for the representatives of member countries to express their views and exchange ideas on current regional issues.

This year’s edition of the meeting is titled, “Towards Asian Convergence and Unification: Promotion of Progress, Peace and Justice.”

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Manouchehr Mottaki will address the opening ceremony on Monday.

The troika meeting of ACD was held in Tehran on Saturday. The troika members are the previous, current, and future heads of ACD.

Iran is the current head of the ACD, Sri Lanka was the former one and Kuwait will be the next one.

Moreover, an expert meeting is also slated for Sunday, a day prior to the official meeting.

The ACD is a continent-wide forum created in 2002 which aims to promote cooperation among Asian countries and to help integrate other regional cooperation organizations.

ACD ministerial meetings were held in Thailand in 2002 and 2003, China 2004, Pakistan 2005, Qatar 2006, South Korea 2007, Kazakhstan 2008, and Sri Lanka 2009.

The ACD ministers also attended a meeting in New York on the sidelines of the recent UN General Assembly session.

The next ACD meeting will be held in Kuwait and the 11th gathering will be in Tajikistan.