The 8th ECO Summit was held on September 14, 2004, in Dushanbe, Republic of Tajikistan with the participation of H.E. Mr. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, H.E. Mr. Artur Rasi-Zade, Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, H.E. Mr. Seyed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H.E. Mr. Daniyal Akhmetov,  Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, H.E. Mr. Askar Akaev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic, H.E. Mr. Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, H.E. Mr. Emomali Rakhmonov, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, H.E. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, H.E. Mr. Rejep Saparov, Deputy Chairman of Peoples’ Council of Turkmenistan, H.E. Mr.  Erkin Khalilov, Chairman of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament) of Republic of Uzbekistan.

At the end of the meeting Dushanbe Declaration was adopted. In Dushanbe Declaration, the summit welcoming the finalization of the ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA) calls upon Member States to sign and ratify this agreement expeditiously and decides to establish a “Free Trade Area in the ECO region by 2015”, as a high priority task for the Organization and it has also emphasized that the urgency of early ratification and implementation of the Transit Transport Framework Agreement (TTFA) for the promotion of trade and transport within ECO region. The hard work put in by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) has been recognized and it has been decided that the proposal for ECO Vision 2015 to be further considered and to be submitted to the next COM.

In the Summit meeting the representatives of the number of International Organizations participated and Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) made a statement.  The ECO Awards 2004 have been distributed by the President of the Republic of Tajikistan among the 9 winners from ECO Member States. The offer of Republic of Azerbaijan to hold the 9^th Summit meeting was appreciated by all the participants.