At the beginning of the Meeting, Mr. Belisle informed the ECO Secretary General that, ITC in accordance with its mandate, is called for rendering technical assistance to developing countries through trade promotion by helping their business communities to get involved into intraregional trade. Therefore, to begin with, he asked ECO Secretariat to formulate short and specific proposals in areas, where ECO wants to progress with potential donors. At that, ITC expressed its desire to help to negotiate with donors to convince them.  In this regard, Mr. Belisle appreciated the intention of ECO to consider the possibility of using its Special Support Fund for implementation of the 2^nd phase of ECO–ITC Joint Project on Expanding Intraregional Trade, the 1^st phase of which was finished successfully. Undoubtedly, this will be positively regarded by donors.

The ECO Secretary General underlined the willingness of ECO, as a partner organization, to be involved more into the activities of the 2^nd phase of the ECO–ITC project. Then it was also discussed the possibilities of getting ITC’s consent for the 2^nd Phase of ECO–ITC Joint Project on Expanding Intraregional Trade with inclusion of Capacity Building of ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECO–CCI) as given first priority by the ECO Secretariat. Further, the ITC managers informed the ECO Secretary General that they are ready to consider the possibility of their participation in ECO activities such as organization of Training Courses for Capacity Building and so-called “Training for Trainers”, render technical assistance for building strong enterprises, as well as to provide ECO with analytical recommendations, statistical data, etc, which ITC has available.

Mr. Belisle made brief introduction on the activities of Asia Trust Fund. The ECO Secretary General expressed his interest in ECO’s participation in ATF. He stated that ECO would come up with official application to ATF in order to establish direct cooperation. The Meeting also reviewed the process of preparation and arrangements for the Third Buyers/Sellers Meeting on Pharmaceutical to be held in Istanbul, Turkey on December 16-17, 2004. 

The ECO Secretary General held the meeting with Mr. Karl Sauvant, Acting Officer-in-Charge of UNCTAD accompanied by high officials, in the UNCTAD Secretariat.

Firstly, the ECO Secretary General was briefed about the activities of UNCTAD in the field of Trade and Development of Energy Services, particularly the trends and marketing in oil and gas sector. He was informed that, UNCTAD intends to increase participation of developing countries’ companies in energy trade, production and consumption of energy commodities of South-South trade. In addition, UNCTAD carries out analytical and research work and deals with issues related to new and renewable sources of energy. In cooperation with UNEP, UNCTAD established Task Force for Capacity Building in the field of Environment.

The ECO Secretary General noted that Energy is one of priority fields of his organization and ECO is interested in cooperation with UNCTAD on abovementioned issues. Specifically, he informed the Meeting that, at present ECO considers implementing a project in the area of new and renewable sources of energy. The ECO Secretary General also informed UNCTAD officials on Memorandum of Understanding, which has been signed recently between ECO and UNEP and expressed readiness of ECO to participate in abovementioned Task Force.

The ECO Secretary General highlighted the importance of cooperation in the field of transport, trade and communications through the continuous contacts with the national consultants as well as consultants of UNCTAD. UNCTAD officials informed ECO Secretary General that UNCTAD will further cooperate with ECO on the issue of Multimodal Transport and Trade Facilitation and stated that in relation to this matter UNCTAD deals with the whole range of legal, customs and logistic aspects.

Further, the ECO Secretary General pointed out the desirability of UNCTAD technical support for implementation of abovementioned project as well as cooperation in other priority fields. He also stated that technical cooperation of UNCTAD would be wholesome for finalization of Draft Agreement on Promotion and Protection of Investment among ECO Member States (APPI) and preparation of annexes at implementation stage of ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA).In response to this, UNCTAD officials proposed to consider the opportunity of organizing training on the issue of implementing Trade Agreement.

The draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between ECO and IRU, prepared earlier and approved by the IRU Presidential Executive in 2002 was discussed during the Meeting. In the MOU both the organizations agreed upon using the facilities of international programmes/projects in the field of international road transport related to ECO region such as UNSPECA project on Transport and Border Crossing Facilitation and TRACECA project. The ECO Secretary General noted that the said MOU could provide a good framework for practical cooperation.

The ECO Secretary General underlined Transport and Communications as one of the priority areas and stated that ECO focuses on the development of transportation infrastructure in the ECO region as well as identification of the most economical and efficient transport corridors at the national level. He also emphasized the necessity of elimination of road transport development barriers.

In the post amble of the Meeting, the ECO Secretary General proposed to consider participation of IRU in the meetings of ECO related to transport and communications for exchange of experience and further cooperation.

Ms. Schmögnerová briefed the ECO Secretary General about transport links between Europe and Asia.

As one of the points of discussion, the parties exchanged their views on the implementation of MOU between ECO and UNECE signed in June 2003 in Geneva during ECO Secretary General’s visit. This document envisages cooperation in common priority areas, such as transport, trade, industry, energy, environment etc. through holding consultations, exchange of information and participation in meetings with the purpose of achieving economic stability and prosperity for member countries of both organizations.

The ECO Secretary General highlighted that holding regular joint meeting of senior officials of the two organizations is crucial. He also proposed to consider the possibility of ECO active participation in the related UNECE projects in the Central Asian Republics and Afghanistan, i.e. Special Programme for Economies of Central Asia (SPECA).

The Meeting took place in the Headquarters of IRF which was represented by Mr. Wim Westerhuis (High Representative) and Mr. Ansgar Kauf (Director of Programmes).

High Representative informed the ECO Secretary General that IRF is planning to organize International Conference for discussion of Afghanistan’s transport infrastructure projects with participation of the governments of Afghanistan’s neighbor countries. In this regard, IRF expressed its interest that ECO could also take part in this event. Currently IRF carries out consultations with several states on this matter and promised to inform the ECO Secretariat on the results as soon as possible.

The ECO Secretary General stressed his attention on Silk Road network as a new field of ECO–IRF cooperation and informed IRF representatives that the 1^st Experts Working Group Meeting held in Tehran in May 2004 considered draft Action Plan for revitalizing and functionalizing the China–Middle East–Europe corridor including time framework for its execution. In relation to abovementioned matter, ECO Secretary General proposed to consider participation of IRF in the 2^nd Experts Working Group Meeting.

The ECO Secretary General informed participants about the results of the 2^nd ECO Ministerial Meeting on Environment held in Istanbul in October 2004, which appreciated the upcoming signing of MOU with WMO. Moreover, the ECO Ministers on Environment stressed the need to further cooperation with WMO. The ECO Secretary General proposed to consider the possibility of convening a Joint ECO-WMO event to address the need for awareness and means to deal with the Natural Disasters and Climatic Cataclysms in the ECO region in 2005 under the auspices of the WMO Regional Training Center.

ECO Secretary General informed that ECO is currently in progress of establishment of Regional Center for Drought Management and Mitigation in the ECO region in Mashhad, Iran according to Iranian proposal, which was welcomed by ECO Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on Agriculture. The SOM also supported the proposal of Iran for establishment of Regional Sub-Center for Risk Management of Natural Disasters in Mashhad to address the metrological aspects of drought in the region. It is expected that the Sub-Center will be inaugurated by the end of 2004 or early 2005.The ECO Secretary General kindly asked WMO officials to support the activities of this Regional Center.

The ECO Secretary General shared the plans of ECO to establish ECO website and database network on draught management and mitigation as well as to set up a consistent early warning system among ECO Member States for development of national draught watch system and best use of available satellite information.  In relation to this, the ECO Secretary General expressed his interest in WMO technical or financial support for ECO in these activities.

Mr. Jarraud underlined the importance of abovementioned activities, and stated that he appreciates the intention to cooperate and is in favor of mutually beneficial interaction. Further, the WMO Secretary General said that ECO Member States geographically are the part of the WMO’s “Asia Region-2” Department, which will be responsible for implementation of MOU and maintenance of regular working contacts with ECO.

On the same day, the ECO Secretary General and the Secretary General of WMO signed the Memorandum of Understanding between two organizations during the specially organized signing ceremony. Aiming to develop closer cooperation between the two organizations in the areas of joint interest through mutually beneficial consultations and exchange of information, experience and relevant documents, this MOU provides legal framework for such cooperation.

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