TEHRAN- Iran’s foreign minister has ascribed a slew of environmental issues, as well as the sources of dust and sand storms across the region, to conflicts imposed by extra-regional countries to advance their own objective

Hossein Amir Abdollahian made the remarks in a meeting on Sunday with Armida Alisjahbana, the Deputy UN Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

The meeting took place as Iran hosted the International Conference on Combating Sand and Dust Storms on Saturday and Sunday.

Amir Abdollahian also thanked the executive secretary of ESCAP for her involvement and support in organizing the global meeting on how to counter dust storms.

He stressed the need for regional and international collaboration in eliminating dust production centers within the region and throughout the world, as well as reducing the hazards connected with them.

The foreign minister related a portion of the region’s dust and sand storms to trans-regional powers’ wars, which solely pursue their own objectives without regard for significant matters such as the environment and have inflicted problems on the people and nature of the region.

He also believed that climatic and weather changes were partly responsible for the worsening of dust and sand storms.

Amir Abdollahian further stated that Iran is prepared to work closely with ESCAP to address natural catastrophes and the locations of dust and sand storms in the region.

For her part, Alisjahbana greeted the senior Iranian diplomat on behalf of the UN secretary-general.

Along with emphasizing the necessity of coordinated regional efforts to battle dust and sand storms, she also expressed ESCAP’s readiness to assist Iran in this respect.

The UN representative also thanked Iran for hosting the APDIM headquarters in Tehran and supporting the ESCAP-affiliated regional hub for the management of disaster-related information.

She then praised Iran for successfully holding the international conference on dust storms, citing the Iranian president’s important attendance and speech as proof of Iran’s intense interest in global and environmental concerns.

The conference was inaugurated in Tehran on Saturday and wrapped up on Sunday.

President Ebrahim Raisi spoke at the conference and hoped that it would create the climate “for common thinking and common planning on the important issue of environmental protection.”

“Protection of the environment must not be influenced by political issues and usual diplomatic compliments, and the decisions made in this field must be considered and followed up as an important issue,” he added.