ALL EYES were focused on the Gulf last week when deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad moved in on Qatar and Iran. His three-day visit to Qatar focused on bilateral political and economic relations while Iran was the venue for the Seventh Council of Ministers Meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Co-operation (IOR-ARC). The two-day meeting of this multi-lateral organisation, established 10 years ago, will focus on issues like foreign direct investment and a preferential trading agreement. According to BuaNews, South Africa was one of the founding members of the organisation, which is based on the principle of open regionalism. “It is a flexible forum that compares with other regional arrangements such as preferential trade agreements, free trade areas, customs unions and common markets among others,” says the report.
