The Fifth Joint Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)* and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)* was held at the UN Headquarters in New York on 29 September 1999. It was co-chaired by H.E. Mr. Nguyen Manh Cam, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, and H.E. Mr. Tofik Zulfugarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

*     ASEAN Member States are: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. The ASEAN Secretariat is in Jakarta. ECO Member States are: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirghizsetan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkeministan and Uzbekistan.

            ASEAN and ECO expressed great appreciation of their mutual interest in developing closer relations between the two regional groupings. They noted with satisfaction the growing bilateral relations between member States of the two groupings. They shared the belief that the growth in the bilateral relations has made it even more conducive than before for ASEAN and ECO to develop closer contacts and launch more joint cooperation activities. They also believed that increased ASEAN-ECO relations and cooperation would contribute to peace, stability and prosperity not only in their respective regions, but also to the world at large.

            As another major step forward, ECO plans to host in Teheran next year the first ASEAN-ECO joint seminar on trade and investment. The seminar will bring together trade and investment officials of the two groupings as well as business leaders from the two regions to exchange views on ways and means of promoting trade and investment for their mutual benefits.

            They also believed that ASEAN's experience in dealing with the financial upheavals since mid-1997 would be useful and instructive to ECO. In this connection, the Meeting encouraged the Secretaries-General of ASEAN and ECO to continue to work closely together in sharing relevant and timely information. The Meeting noted with satisfaction the positive outcome of the consultation between the two Secretaries-General in Kathmandu on 27 October 1998, when they both attended the Fourth Meeting of the Executive Heads of Sub-regional Organizations of Asia and the Pacific and ESCAP. They requested the two Secretaries-General to further discuss ideas for joint cooperation activities when they are in Suva, Fiji, to attend the forthcoming fifth consultative meeting with ESCAP in early November.

            ASEAN and ECO reaffirmed their common commitment to develop closer relations and initiate fruitful joint cooperation activities. They agreed to convene their Sixth ASEAN-Eco Foreign Ministers Meeting in New York during the opening session of the UN General Assembly. The Meeting expressed appreciation for the excellent preparations done by the Permanent Missions to the UN of the Socialist Republic Viet Nam and the Republic of Azerbaijan.