An economic bloc that includes six ex-Soviet nations along with Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkiye held a summit in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, yesterday, with leaders vowing to further expand trade and economic ties.

Media reports say leaders of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member nations discussed plans for speeding regional economic integration.

They reportedly also talked about the need for increasing the ECO’s global profile through fostering regional and global partnerships.

“Our vast region, which is home to half a billion people, has a great potential for developing cooperation in trade, economy, industry, investment, innovation and transport,” the summit’s host, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, said in a speech at the summit.

He said it was important to “fully utilize the potential of transcontinental transport corridors that pass through our territories and link us with major markets in the Asia-Pacific region, South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.”

Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly stressed the need to develop trade routes across the Caspian Sea region, which includes several of the countries.  He said the Organization’s members must “continue to work in coordination and improve the functionality of the corridor, which is to the benefit of all of us.”

The summit’s participants also urged the international community to come up with a “more serious and fruitful response” to the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip amid the Israel-Hamas war and called for increased humanitarian assistance to people in Afghanistan.

The ECO’s official website says the summit, in particular, reviewed the post-pandemic activities of the Organization including, inter alia, the progress made in regional trade, transport, energy, tourism, agriculture sectors, etc.  ECO leaders noted that member countries were required to be more receptive and responsive to mutually materialize ECO’s sectoral initiatives for ensuring a shared and sustainable progress and development in the region. In this regard, the meeting appreciated Uzbekistan for introducing some joint action plans to speed up the process of regional economic integration, including the country’s proposal on the establishment of an International Industrial Exhibition within ECO and offer for hosting its first exposure in Uzbekistan during 2024.

Underscoring the significance of year-wise conceptual themes and the yearly selection of ECO Tourism Capitals, the leaders noted that such positive trends would support and accelerate the accomplishment of ECO’s multifarious agenda.  Besides, they reportedly emphasized the necessity of enhanced international cooperation to create greater harmony amongst the nations so that the current geopolitical challenges may collectively be addressed.  In this regard, the leadership appreciated ECO’s efforts for increasing the Organization’s worldwide visibility through more and improved regional and global partnerships. Underlining the role of parliamentary diplomacy which continues to grow in global relations, ECO leadership acknowledged the importance of the Parliamentary Assembly of ECO Member States (PAECO).

The summit participants reportedly also discussed the current situation in Afghanistan, urging for increased humanitarian assistance to solve the severe socioeconomic problems of Afghan people.  Looking into escalating tensions in Palestine and the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza, the ECO leaders stressed the international community to come up with a more serious and fruitful response.  Moreover, the names of ECO Award Winners were also announced during the summit in recognition of the individuals’ scientific and educational services.

The Economic Cooperation Organization, or ECO, is an Asian political and economic intergovernmental organization that was founded in 1985 in Tehran by the leaders of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkiye.  It provides a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities.  The ECO is an ad hoc organization under the United Nations Charter.  The objective is to establish a single market for goods and services, much like the European Union.  After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the ECO expanded to include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in 1992.

The current framework of the ECO expresses itself mostly in the form of bilateral agreements and arbitration mechanisms between individual and fully sovereign member states. That makes the ECO similar to ASEAN in that it is an organization that has its own offices and bureaucracy for implementation of trade amongst sovereign member states.

The coordination and monitoring of ECO activities is carried out by the secretariat, which is elected and appointed by the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of ECO member States for a period of three years.

The summit is held every two years at the level of heads of state and government.