Es’hagh Jahangiri met and talked with Shamshad Akhtar, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The meeting was held in the Russian city of Sochi which the host to the 16th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The Iranian side, while referring to age-old history of Iran’s ties with ESCAP, called for expansion of existing cooperation in line with sustainable development.
He said Iran was dealing with natural disasters like draught adding “Iran is facing lack of water while at times heady rainfalls lead to destructive floods.”
“In recent years, drought has turned Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran into dangerous zones for formation of dust storms which affect lives of a great number of people even those residing in the Iranian capital,” he underscored.
The official urged the United Nations to pay due attention to dust storms and help resolve the issue since it has caused difficulties for a large population inside the region.
He described earthquake as yet another common natural disaster in Iran recalling that two massive quakes had recently hit Iranian provinces of Kermanshah and Kerman.
Jahangiri referred to negotiations on establishment of the United Nations Natural Disaster Management Information Center in Tehran and stressed the need to finalize talks on the issue so that the center will become activated in the near future.
“Under provisions of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), sanctions against Iran had to be removed while regrettably certain restrictions are still present indicating that the other side has failed to remain committed to its obligations,” underlined Iran’s 1st VP.
He said Iran would back measures of ESCAP in line with sustainable development asserting that the Islamic Republic of Iran had put sustainable and comprehensive development on the agenda.
The official underlined that Iran had taken effective steps in saving energy and using clean fossil fuels; “Iran supports any energy summit by ESCAP and is ready to share its experiences.”
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, for her part, said efforts will be made to open an ESCAP center in Iran as soon as possible though a number of administrative and technical issues need to be worked out together.
She said ESCAP was drafting a Sustainable Development Plan for Asia and the Pacific with member countries explaining “of course, Iran has also been actively involved in the preparation of the draft, and we are ready to provide more support to Iran as regards sustainable development goals.”
Akhtar also presented a report on activities of ESCAP in various fields and provided Iran’s Jahangiri with a written copy of the reports. She said a ministerial meeting on energy will be held in Thailand in April 2018 and, in view of Iran’s significant in the field, expressed hope that a high-ranking representative of Iran will take part at the summit.
SCO is an intergovernmental organization founded by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in 2001 in a bid to promote multilateral cooperation in the fields of security, economy and culture.
Iran, Mongolia, Afghanistan and Belarus have joined the entity as observer members.
Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and India are current members of SCO.
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