Azernews.Az

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is in the Azerbaijani capital Baku to attend a summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Press TV channel reported.

Salehi arrived in Baku late on Sunday for the 20th meeting of the ECO Council of Ministers, which will be held on Monday. He is also expected to meet with senior Azerbaijani officials.

The ministerial meeting of ECO is scheduled to be followed by the 12th summit of ECO heads of state and government, which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will join on Tuesday.

Last week, Salehi met with ECO Secretary-General Shamil Aleskerov in Tehran. He called on the organization to expand its relations with other regional and international groups.

"On the path of progress, the ECO should expand its relations with other regional and international organizations and outline opportunities for cooperation," Salehi said in a meeting with the ECO Secretary-General on October 7.

For his part, Aleskerov regarded the Islamic Republic as an ECO "significant player" and thanked Iran for hosting the ECO secretariat.

ECO is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey for the purpose of promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among the member states.

In 1992, the ECO expanded the ranks of its members to include seven new countries -- Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.