ECO leaders push for enhanced economic cooperation at Pakistan summit

Leaders of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) on Wednesday adopted the Islamabad Declaration and the ECO Vision 2025 underscoring the need for enhanced cooperation in various fields including energy, highways and tourism.

The documents were adopted during the 13th summit of the ECO, highlighting the group's "pragmatic and tangible organizational targets."

The ECO groups Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Addressing the summit, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the grouping would be able to take longer strides in advancing the programs and activities of the organization with more understanding among the heads of states and governments.

ECO can play a vital role in building the future of the economy of the region and for this to happen, he said, adding that the ECO needs restructuring since the 21st century is the era of emerging economy of Asia and economic activities are transferring from the West to East.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his address called for early completion of reforms in ECO, strengthening of human resource of ECO Secretariat and a evolution of a mechanism for ownership of projects.

He stressed on cooperation in energy and said his country would support all initiatives aimed at realization of this objective.

He also urged the need for resolution of political disputes and joint efforts to tackle the menace of terrorism.

"Turkey is implementing a number of big infrastructure projects that would link the country with neighboring countries and regions through rail, roads, sea and air. This includes construction of the world's largest airport in Istanbul," he said.

Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov informed the summit that construction work on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline has been started and implementation of this project is being realized with the participation of ECO member states.

Addressing the summit, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev laid special emphasis on mutual cooperation among the ECO countries in the field of infrastructure, connectivity, and transportation for the development and the progress of the region.

ECO Secretary General Halil Ibrahim told the delegates that the population of ECO region has reached 471 million and its GDP has crossed one trillion U.S. dollars. He said intra-trade of the region has improved to 8.7 percent in 2015 from 5.3 percent in 2000.

He pointed out that ECO continues to implement programs and plans decided by its decision making bodies. He said trade, transport and energy are the core areas being focused by the organization.

Source: Xinhua