Head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations Kamal Kharrazi made the remarks on Wednesday while addressing the second meeting of non-governmental forum of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held in Beijing, China.
The two-day meeting which kicked off today carries the theme "25 Years of CICA: for Asia's Security and Development”. It was established based on a proposal by President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Summit of the CICA in May 2014. The first meeting was held in May 2015, offering a new channel for publicizing CICA security concept and promoting regional security governance.
Kharrazi discussed engineering of economic development and regional security by formation of the New Silk Road in a speech entitled "Infrastructure Cooperation On Economy and Security”, noting that the implementation of the New Silk Road project will considerably increase relations between Member States.
He maintained that Iran has a number of macro plans for establishing further links with regional countries, such as the North-South corridor linking Chabahar Port to Sarakhs on Turkmenistan’s border and facilitating the access of Sea of Oman and India Oceans littoral states to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Russia.
He also added that linking Iran’s southern and northern railways to those in the Republic of Azerbaijan would facilitate communication with Caucasus, Russia as well as Eastern and Western Europe.
East-to-West railways in Iran also connect to Turkey and Europe on one side, and to Iraq, Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea on the other side, he added.
“One objective of the Belt and Road Initiative can be the economic development and consequently, the regional security development,” Kharrazi said, adding “of course, without cooperation from all regional countries, this highly significant initiative cannot be realized.”
Kharraiz further voiced Iran’s readiness to employ all its potential and capacities in fighting terrorism and developing security in the region.
According to China's Foreign Ministry, the second meeting was attended by around 300 former political leaders, scholars, experts, media professionals, NGO representatives and diplomatic envoys in China. The attendees will discuss topics such as seeking common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security in Asia; establishing security architecture tailored to Asia; and implementing a consensuses concerning the Belt and Road Initiative.
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