TEHRAN – The first edition of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) ministerial meeting on tourism opened on Monday in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, in a bid to expand cooperation among the member states.

The Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Organization of Iran presides over the two-day meeting which was initiated by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during the 14th ACD Ministerial Meeting, which was held earlier in March in Bangkok.

Ministers and high-ranking officials from about 20 member states have come together at Tabriz’s Kaya Laleh Park Hotel to exchange views on how to converge their policies and regulations in compliance with the tourism industry across the continent.

The summit also aims to pave the way for further sustainable social, cultural, economic, and environmental growth amongst the Asian nations.

The Asia Cooperation Dialogue was inaugurated in June 2002 in Cha-Am, Thailand, where 18 Asian foreign ministers met together for the first time. It aims to constitute the missing link in Asia by incorporating every Asian country and building an Asian community without duplicating other organizations or creating a bloc against others.

The ACD members hope that Asia would play an overriding and pivotal role in the further expansion of the Tourism industry and act as the main driving force for the expansion of the world tourism market.
The ACD proclaims that the 65 percent surge of Asian outbound tourists during the last decade and the continuance of its expansion during the coming years ahead along with an ever increasing 34 percent of international tourists to Asia has positioned this continent as the significant tourism market in the world.

Since its inception, the ACD has rapidly developed in two dimensions, namely, dialogue and projects.

AFM/MG