ISLAMABAD: The meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) started in Islamabad, which will approve the Islamabad Declaration to be adopted in the 13th ECO Summit being held tomorrow.
Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz was elected as chairman of the Foreign Ministers’ Council. Foreign Ministers of 10 member countries including Turkey, and Iran are participating in the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Sartaj Aziz welcomed the participants of 22nd meeting of ECO. He said the ECO region faces the challenges of terrorism and extremism. He called upon the members countries to jointly work to overcome the challenges.
He said that the ECO had the potential to integrate the region. He added that the dream of prosperity in the region could be materialized by promoting connectivity among member countries.
Aziz called for removing hurdles in implementation of bilateral trade agreements to increase bilateral trade between the member countries.
Addressing the meeting, Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif hailed Pakistan for making best arrangements for holding the moot. He said that the ECO would play important role for cooperation among member countries of the Organisation.
He said that all the members need to work together for realization of vision 2025.
Secretary General of ECO Halil Ibrahim in his address to the meeting stressed the need for sustained efforts and exploring all possibilities for harnessing the full potential of the Organization for development and prosperity.
He said population of ECO region has reached 471 million and its GDP has crossed one trillion dollars. He pointed out that ECO intra-regional trade has increased to 8.3 percent in 2016 as compared to 5.3 percent in 2000. The Secretary General highlighted projects and plans being implemented in different fields including trade and investment, transport, communication, energy, environment and others.
He said the ECO has signed forty-five MOUs and Agreements with UN System and other International organizations and these are at various stages of implementation.
