Iran has underlined the necessity of cooperation between the Southeast Asian economic bloc of the ASEAN and the ECO Eurasian inter-governmental organization.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani pointed to the necessity in a meeting with visiting Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Don Pramudwinai in the capital, Tehran, on Sunday.

“The reinforcement of cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) brings about regional economic development,” said the Iranian chief executive.

“Developing countries should meet each other’s demands in the economic, commercial, scientific, financial, and technological arenas, and benefit from one other’s experiences in the cultural, social, and environmental fields,” he added.

Besides Thailand, the ASEAN, which lays emphasis on economic growth among its members, groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

The Tehran-headquartered ECO, comprises Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as well as the Islamic Republic itself. The main purpose of the organization, which was set up in 1985, is to promote economic, technical, and cultural cooperation among the member states.

The top Thai diplomat, for his part, described as very outstanding and effective the Iranian president’s role in the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries that led to a nuclear deal in July 2015.

He said, “Given that Iran made use of time under sanctions and gave special attention to training competent and specialist human resources, the country will turn into an economic power in the near future.”

Under the JCPOA, which went into effect on January 16, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the United Nations Security Council and the United States were terminated. Iran in return has put some limitations on its nuclear activities.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha recently congratulated Iran on achieving success in the nuclear negotiations and on the occasion of the recent implementation of the agreement.

ASEAN foreign ministers had in August last year voiced support for the then freshly finalized nuclear agreement.