Iran, ASEAN ink cooperation treaty
August 03, 2018 - Iran on Thursday officially joined a friendship treaty with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in a move which could lead to broader economic cooperation between the Islamic Republic and the organization’s member states.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif signed the Instrument of Accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia in a ceremony on the sidelines at the 51st annual gathering of ASEAN’s foreign ministers.
According to IRNA, there was a consensus among Southeast Asian countries to accept Iran as a party to the treaty.
This indicated the significance of interaction with Iran as an important and influential country in regional and international equations, the report said.
The treaty comes only two months after US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of an international nuclear agreement with Iran and announced that he would reimpose economic sanctions that were largely lifted under that deal.
Nevertheless, experts believe that Asian countries are likely to brush off US sanctions and maintain business ties with Iran despite Washington’s pressure to harm all trade ties with the Islamic Republic.
At Thursday’s meeting, foreign ministers of the ASEAN member states as well as ministers of the observer countries, including Iran, Russia, China, and India, discussed the latest regional and international developments during the 51st session of the 10-nation bloc.
Related meetings involving ASEAN members and their partner countries will end today.
ASEAN is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising 10 Southeast Asian countries – Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei.
The bloc seeks to enhance intergovernmental cooperation and facilitate economic, political, security, military, educational, and socio-cultural integration amongst its members and other Asian states.