Salehi, also Iran's nuclear chief, made brief welcoming remarks to his counterparts from the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) as his country handed over the group's rotating presidency to Turkey.

Meeting at an Ottoman palace at the bank of the Bosphorus, foreign ministers from the 10 member states prepared the agenda for Thursday's summit of their leaders, also to be attended by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Salehi was appointed foreign minister last week after Ahmadinejad sacked Manouchehr Mottaki in a surprise move signalling an apparent falling out over nuclear policy.

The visit of the Iranian pair comes ahead of a second meeting between Iran and the 5+1 group of world powers over Tehran's nuclear programme, to be held in Istanbul next month.

Salehi met for more than an hour with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss the upcoming talks, which will follow a first round in Geneva this month that broke a 14-month hiatus, a Turkish diplomat said.

"The positive momentum gained in Geneva must be maintained... As a host country, Turkey is ready to do whatever it can to help," he said.

Ahmadinejad was expected to arrive in Istanbul late Wednesday and meet behind closed doors with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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.

The following month, Turkey refused to back fresh sanctions against Tehran, adopted at the UN Security Council, insisting that the swap deal should be given a chance.

Its "no" vote irked the United States and raised concern that NATO's sole Muslim-majority members is sliding away from the West.

The ECO, which promotes regional trade and economic development, also includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Speaking at Wednesday's meeting, Davutoglu lamented that the group was falling behind targets in expanding economic exchange between members.

"The ambitious target to increase intra-regional trade from six percent to 20 percent by 2015 may not be easily reached given that as of 2009 the intra-regional trade stands at seven percent, showing only a slight improvement," he said.

He urged members to speed up efforts to adopt an agreement that envisages the progressive removal of trade barriers within the organisation.

The member states cover an area of about eight billion square kilometres, rich with natural resources, and represent some 400 million people.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul will chair Thursday's summit, to be 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.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will join them as a guest.

Prime Minister Karim Masimov will represent Kazakhstan, with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan sending lower-level officials.

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