The 7^th Summit meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), held on October 14, 2002 in Istanbul, Turkey, was chaired by H.E. Mr. Ahmet Necdet Sezer, President of the Republic of Turkey and attended by H.E. Mr. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, H.E. Mr. Heydar Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, H.E. Mr. Seyed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H.E. Mr. Kassymzhomart Tokaev, Secretary of State-Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, H.E. Mr. Askar Akaev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic, H.E. General Pervez Musharraf, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, H.E. Mr. Emomali Rakhmonov, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, H.E. Mr. Recep Saparov, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, H.E. Mr. Erkin Khalilov, Chairman of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament) of the Republic of Uzbekistan. H.E. Ambassador Seyed Mojtaba Arastou, Secretary General of ECO also attended the meeting.

H.E. Seyed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Chairman of the 6^th ECO Summit meeting opened the meeting and invited H.E. Mr. Ahmet Necdet Sezer, President of the Republic of Turkey to take over the Chairmanship of the 7^th ECO Summit meeting. The Chairman’s election was applauded as an expression of unanimity and followed by welcoming remarks and the inaugural statement of the President of the Republic of Turkey.

The Heads of State/Government/Delegation delivered their statements. The Heads/Representatives of UN Agencies and other regional & international organizations such as UN-ESCAP, IDB, UNICEF, UNODCCP, UNCTAD, ITC, ICARDA, BSEC, COMCEC and D-8 attended the 7^th Summit.

H.E. Mr. Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP), H.E. Prof. Dr. Adel El-Beltagy, Director General, International Centre for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), H.E. Ambassador Valeri Chechelashvili, Secretary General, Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), H.E. Ambassador Ayhan Kamel, Executive Director of the Developing-8 Countries (D-8) and Dr. Mehmet GUNAL, Acting  Deputy Undersecretary, State Planning Organization of Turkey, for Standing Committee for Commercial & Economic Cooperation of OIC (COMCEC) read out their messages/statements.