Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has left for Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, to participate in the 13th Meeting of the ECO Heads of State/Government that is being held in Islamabad today. 

Foreign minister, minister of energy and water resources, minister of economic development and trade, as well as presidential advisers for international ties and economic issues are accompanying Rahmon on his trip to Islamabad.  

The summit was preceded by the senior official’s meeting on February 26-27 and the 22nd meeting of the ECO Council of Foreign Ministers (COM) on February 28.     

The summit whose theme is ‘Connectivity for Regional Prosperity’ is expected to review the state of affairs of ECO in the light of the new and emerging global and regional circumstances and agree on the course of actions ECO should follow in expanding regional economic cooperation among its Member States.  The new ECO Vision 2025 is also expected to be adopted in Islamabad meetings.

The summit is expected to end with a declaration which would focus on its theme of Connectivity as a dynamic concept that encompasses multiple dimensions including transit transport such as rail, road, ports and shipping and cyber linkages.

It is for the first time that Pakistan is hosting the ECO summit since it last hosted the 3rd ECO Summit at Islamabad in May 1995.

The last ECO Summit was held in October 2012 in Baku.  The 21st COM meeting was held in November 2013 in Tehran.

The ECO grouping was formed by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey in 1985, succeeding the Regional Cooperation for Development that they had established in 1964.

Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan joined the organization in 1992.

The ECO aims at promoting sustainable economic development of member states through trade and economic cooperation as well as mutual assistance in social, cultural, technical and scientific fields.

The Headquarters of ECO are located in Tehran, Iran.

Ambassador Halil Ibrahim Akca from Turkey is the current Secretary General of ECO.