TEHRAN, Jan 20 (AFP -NT) - The foreign ministers of Iran, Armenia and Turkmenistan held talks here Saturday on boosting economic cooperation. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati urged in a statement ahead of the meeting for similar cooperation between other countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus to ensure "peace and stability in the region." "So far as it concerns Iran, we have opted for peaceful and good, neighborly relations to pave the way for economic and commercial cooperation in the region," he told reporters. The three countries will spend the next three days exploring ways of boosting economic, trade and banking cooperation, notably the exchange of goods between Armenia and Turkmenistan via Iran. The three countries have already held two tripartide meetings, in April in Tehran and in June in Turkmenistan. The idea for a three-way cooperation was first raised by the countries' presidents in the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas, in southern Iran, in March 1995 when they inaugurated a railway linking the Gulf to Central Asia. AFP /AA1234/201454 GMT JAN 96

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