President Alvi to attend 15th ECO summit in Asghabat on Nov 28

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi will be on an official visit to Turkmenistan to attend the 15th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), being held in Ashgabat on November 28.

The ECO summit will be chaired by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Friday.

The theme of the summit this year is ‘Into the Future Together’ and will also review the activities of the organisation and adopt ‘Ashgabat Consensus for Action’ as the outcome document.

The president will address the plenary session of the summit and is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with participating leaders on the sidelines of the ECO Summit.

The ECO is a regional economic trade and development organisation established in 1985. Pakistan, Iran and Turkey are its founding members. The three countries were earlier part of the RCD (Regional Cooperation for Development), established in 1964.

In 1992, the ECO expanded to include Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Afghanistan also became a member later.

The ECO region is located in the neighbourhood of China, Europe, Russia and the Gulf States.

It comprises 6.3 per cent of the world population. It contributes more than 2 per cent to global trade with around 3 per cent share in global GDP.

The region is rich in fossil fuel and mineral resources. The intra-region trade is 8 per cent. The main trading partners of the region include EU, China and the US.

Pakistan hosted the 13th ECO Summit in Islamabad in 2017, while the 14th ECO Summit was hosted by Turkey in a virtual format.

Besides reviewing ECO programmes and activities, the summit meeting will also consider the mid-term review of ECO Vision 2025.

Vision 2025 was adopted in 2017 during the 13th summit held in Pakistan. It serves as an overarching policy roadmap for the future and revival of ECO and provides guidelines for cooperation in trade, connectivity, energy, tourism, economic growth, social welfare and the environment.