The Secretary General of SAARC Ambassador Md. Golam Sarwar addressed the Nineteenth Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Member States of Asia Cooperation Dialogue being held in Tehran.

In his statement, Ambassador Sarwar made a point that regional cooperation is more of a necessity than a choice for greater prosperity of Asia. The cost of lack of cooperation or less cooperation will be much higher than our imagination, he said, this has become more true today, especially because we face more challenges than ever before.

In his remarks, the Secretary General stated that as the largest and most populated continent of the Earth, Asia had always enjoyed a rich history and cultural diversity. He further stated that abound with a third of the Earth's landmass and almost two thirds of the world population, mostly young and energetic, Asia today is a promising combination of economic strength, demography and unique value system that accords primacy to social well-being over individual, self-centered pursuits.

Underlining that the establishment of ACD in 2002 marked a historic development, providing a common forum for dialogue for the countries in Asia in forming a prosperous Asian Community through active collaboration in different areas, the Secretary General expressed his confidence that this Ministerial Meeting would add further momentum to the implementation of the “ACD Blueprint-2030”.

Ambassador Sarwar defined SAARC as essentially a people-centric organization, created to promote the welfare of the people and to improve their quality of life through regional cooperation. The Secretary General stated, SAARC today encompasses every sphere of development activities having bearing on the lives and livelihood of the people of South Asia.

In the quest of a fruitful journey towards effective regional integration, SAARC is always eager to learn from other regional and international organizations with similar aims and purposes, the Secretary General said, SAARC and ACD have common objectives and their initiatives complement each other, thereby spurring the possibility of active engagement between the two organizations.

The Ministerial Meeting was presided by His Excellency Dr. Ali Bagheri, Acting Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ministers of Foreign Affairs, State Ministers, Foreign Secretaries and Secretaries of ACD Member States led their respective delegation to the Meeting.