The National Chambers of the Member States should find new modalities and mechanisms, which would lead ECO-CCI to playa more dynamic and active role in encouraging frequent interaction between business communities of the region.
Agenda Item 4
Capacity building of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry – ECO
ECO CHAMBER OF COMMERCIE AND INDUSTRY (ECO-CCI)
( Tehran, 21-23 July, 2003 )
ECO Secretariat Background Paper
8th Consultative Meeting of
Executive Heads of Sub-Regional Organizations
The Islamic Republic of Iran. the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republic of Turkey established the ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECO CCI) in 1990 in accordance with Article 30 of the Treaty of Izmir. (1977). This was preceded by the signing of the statutes of the ECO CCI by the Heads of National Chambers of the founding members in 1989 in Istanbul. Soon after. National Committees of ECO CCI were also established by the National Chambers of the signatory Member States.
The aims and objectives of ECO CCI as per its statute are to facilitate trade and economic cooperation and promote closer relations between the business communities of the member states. It was also entrusted the responsibility of organizing joint trade fairs. exhibitions. meetings. conferences. seminars and other promotional activities with the view to further strengthening trade relations among the Member States.
According to the statutes of ECO CCI. its secretariat is to be rotated alphabetically amongst its members after every two years. After rotation among the National Chambers of Iran and Turkey. the Chairmanship of ECO CCI was passed on to the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in January 1998. The General Assembly and the Executive Committee in their 6th and 9th meetings. respectively. held in April 1999 in Ashgabat decided to transfer the Chairmanship of ECO CCI for the term 2000-2001 to Azerbaijan. This handing-over Ceremony could not however take place owing to Azerbaijan refusal to accept the Chairmanship of ECO CCI. Regular meetings of ECO CCI have been postponed since 1999 due to lack of quorum financial support from the National Chambers of the Member States. Therefore, the Chairmanship of ECO CCI has remained with Pakistan (FPCCI) since January 1. 1998.
Since its establishment ECO CCI also set up two technical committees. namely; Joint Transit Committee and Investment and Industrial Committee. The membership of the Chamber also grew from three to seven members over the last decade. At present. besides the founding members. the National Chambers of Azerbaijan. Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are members of ECO CCI.
The ECO CCI has so far been able to organize just one trade fair in Bandar Anzali in 1998. Besides this. three ECO Trade Fairs were also organized by the trade support institutions of the member states in cooperation with the ECO CCI. However. no trade fair could be organized since 1998 owing to lack of quorum financial support. The 2nd ECO CCI and 4th ECO Trade Fairs are expected to be jointly organized by the Export Promotion Bureau of Pakistan and ECO CCI Secretariat in Karachi later this year .
As is evident from the above synopsis, ECO CCI has not lived up to its responsibilities and has not been very effective in realizing ECO CCI aims and objectives set out in its Statutes. This has partly resulted out of the fact that the National Chambers of Non-founding Member States are still in their infancy and do not have the requisite experience and professional knowledge to meet the challenges of expanding intra-regional trade and partly due to the lack of adequate financial support. The obviously require capacity building to be able to play an active role in promoting regional economic cooperation.
In order to discuss the above problems and also to decide some fundamental issues such as the question of rotation of the secretariat of ECO CCI, Chairmanship, Trade Fairs etc., the Member States have decided to convene the meetings of the General Assembly and the Executive Committee of the Chamber. The proposed meetings are expected to be held in Bishkek/Tehran in the 2nd half of this year.
Another major concern with respect to ECO-CCI is the rotational system of its Secretariat, which causes inefficiency. According to the proposal made during the 1 st ECO Business Forum held on October 11, 2002 in Istanbul to have a permanent Secretariat, for which the President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchange offered to host it in Turkey. Meanwhile, the ECO Secretariat also received the offer of the Islamic Republic of Iran to host the Permanent Secretariat of ECO CCI in Tehran. The ECO-CCI, through its General Assembly, is expected to decide on this issue in its forthcoming meeting.
Recommendations:
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The National Chambers of the Member States should find new modalities and mechanisms, which would lead ECO-CCI to playa more dynamic and active role in encouraging frequent interaction between business communities of the region. |
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ECO-CCI through its member chambers should exercise its influence in getting the decisions of the 1st ECO Business Forum implemented expeditiously. |
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The Chambers of ACAMS are in need of technical and financial assistance from the Chambers of the Founding Members in order to enable them to actively participate in the ECO CCI Meetings and ECO Trade Fairs. Pakistan, Iran and Turkey are requested to persuade their National Chambers to render such assistance to the ACAMS' Chambers. |
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It has been observed that ECO Trade Fairs lack proper organization and publicity. As a result, three Fairs fall short of the desired objectives. It is, therefore, proposed that future ECO Trade Fairs may be assigned to private companies possessing the required professional skills and organizational capabilities. |
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