The 9^th ECO Summit was held in Baku, Republic Azerbaijan on 5^th May 2006.  The meeting was attended by H.E. Mr. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, H.E. Dr. Mahmood Ahmadi Nejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H.E. Mr. Daniyal Akhmetov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, H.E. Mr. Medetbek Kerimkulov, First Vice Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, H.E. Mr. Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, H.E. Mr. Akil Akilov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan, H.E. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, H.E. Mr. Khoshgeldy Kurbanovich Babaev, Head of State Enterprise on Caspian Sea Issue under the President of Turkmenistan and H.E. Mr. Erkin Khalilov, Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The ECO Secretary General along with the relevant staff of ECO Secretariat as well as representatives of International Organizations participated in the meeting.

          Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the 9^th Summit.  In his statement, Mr. Aliyev reiterated his Government’s commitment to the objectives of the Organization. 

          The Heads of State / Government also underscored the need for expansion of cooperation in various fields under the framework of ECO and reaffirmed their support to the objectives and goals of the Organization. 

          The 9^th ECO Summit was preceded by Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) on 2^nd -3^rd May, 2006 and Council of Ministers’ Meeting (COM) on 4^th May, 2006.  H.E. Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, who chaired the meeting of COM, submitted his report to the Summit on the deliberations of the 16^th COM.  The Secretary General of ECO, Mr. Askhat Orazbay, in his report to the Summit, briefly outlined the successes of the Organization since the 8^th ECO Summit which was held in Dushanbe in September 2004. 

          During the Summit, ECO Excellence Awards 2006 were given to the nationals of the ECO Member States.  The awards were given to eight winners in the field of Economics, History, Culture and Fine Arts, Science and Technology, Education, Agriculture and Environment.

          At the conclusion of the Summit, Baku Declaration was unanimously adopted.  The Declaration provides future guidelines to the Organization in both priority as well as non priority areas of ECO.  The leaders welcomed Pakistan’s offer to host the 10^th ECO Summit in Pakistan.