Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joined regional leaders Thursday for a summit on economic cooperation in Istanbul, just a month ahead of nuclear talks with world powers in the Turkish city. Ahmadinejad was accompanied by his new foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, also Iran's nuclear chief, who made his first international appearance here Wednesday at a pre-summit gathering of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO). The pair met with Turkish leaders to discuss a second round of talks that Iran would hold with the 5+1 group of world powers over its disputed nuclear programme, expected in late January in Istanbul. 'The positive momentum gained (at the first round) in Geneva must be maintained... As a host country, Turkey is ready to do whatever it can to help,' a Turkish diplomat said after Salehi met with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday. Ahmadinejad held talks behind closed doors with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan later in the day. Salehi was appointed interim foreign minister last week after Ahmadinejad sacked Manouchehr Mottaki in a surprise move signalling an apparent falling out over nuclear policy. Turkey's Islamist-rooted government has established close ties with Tehran, insisting on a diplomatic solution to the nuclear row and reluctant to back a tougher line against the Islamic republic, its eastern neighbour. In May, together with Brazil, it hammered out a nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran but the United States dismissed the accord. Turkish President Abdullah Gul chaired Thursday's summit, attended also by his counterparts Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Roza Otunbayeva of Kyrgyzstan, Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, as well as Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani participated as a guest. The ECO, which promotes regional trade and economic development, also includes Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which sent lower-level officials. In his opening speech, Gul lamented that the group was faltering in efforts to expand commercial links, stressing intra-regional trade had increased only from six to seven percent since 2005, undermining the 2015 target of 20 percent. 'We have to admit that this is a failure,' he said, urging member states to speed up efforts to adopt an ECO accord calling for progressive removal of trade barriers. 'It should be understood that the way to economic stability and sustainable development for our countries goes through economic and commercial cooperation in the region,' he said. Energy security, transport and poverty reduction were expected to be other major topics in the talks. The 10 member states cover an area of about eight billion square kilometres, rich with natural resources, and represent some 400 million people. 