Bahrain attends senior officials’ meeting

Manama, Jan.13 (BNA): The delegation of the Kingdom of Bahrain, headed by the Director of the Afro-Asian Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Muna Abbas Radhi, took part in the virtual informal meeting complementing the Senior Officials Meeting to prepare for the 17th Asia Cooperation Dialogue Ministerial Meeting. During the meeting, she reiterated Bahrain’s commitment, as a founding member of the ACD since its inception in 2002, to the goals and principles of the dialogue based on the foundations of building the various strengths and potentials in Asia. She stressed the Kingdom’s keenness to enhance cooperation between ACD member states and strengthen partnerships in the six areas of cooperation for the dialogue, namely (1) Connectivity; (2) Science, Technology, and Innovation; (3) Education and Human Resource Development; (4) Interrelation of Food, Energy, and Water Security; (5) Tourism and Culture; and (6) Promoting Approaches to Inclusive and Sustainable Development The meeting also discussed a draft of the Ankara Declaration that will be issued at the seventeenth ministerial meeting of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue, which will be held in January 2021. The guidelines for the work of the General Secretariat of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue also came under the spotlight, in addition to discussing issues of common interest. The forum aims to strengthen interdependence between Asian countries in many areas, namely in the fields of food, water security and energy, communication, science, technology and innovation, education and human resource development. It promotes approaches to comprehensive and sustainable development, as well as culture and tourism, through joint cooperation opportunities, especially by expanding the trade sector and financial markets to strengthen cooperation between Asian countries to enhance the Asian economic competitiveness in the global economic market. It seeks also to develop joint interaction between Asian countries in all areas of cooperation by identifying common opportunities that will help fight poverty and improve the standard of life for the people of Asia. It also strives to create an Asian community capable of interacting with the rest of the world and contributing positively towards peace and well-being, especially in light of the global circumstances of the spread of the new Covid-19 pandemic.