ECT Secretary General Calls on 

ECO Secretary General

Press Release

            The Secretary General of Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) Dr. Ria Kemper called on the Secretary General of ECO H.E. Ambassador Seyed Mojtaba Arastou.

Making a presentation, the ECT Secretary General informed Mr. Arastou that the fundamental aim of Energy Charter Treaty was to strengthen the Rule of Law on energy issues as it provided the multilateral framework of rules under international law governing energy cooperation, which entered into force in 1998. The ECT Secretary General stated that it was a legally binding treaty and its list of adherents included 51 Eurasian countries. The Secretary General informed that except Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan all remaining ECO countries are members of Energy Charter Treaty. It was the successor of European Energy Charter of 1994 and Energy Charter Conference was its governing body, which is served by a Secretariat in Brussels.

Concluding her presentation, the Secretary General of ECT stated that ECO constituted important energy supplying and consuming countries and therefore is natural focus of ECT. The Secretary  General requested for an observer states in ECO, in order to keep ECT informed of ECO activities as well as to enable it to remain engaged with ECO countries. The Secretary General offered to review a proposal of organizing a workshop on Energy and Environment issues in the ECO region.

The Secretary General of ECO H.E. Seyed Mojtaba Arastou appreciated the presentation of Secretary General of ECT and promised to give due consideration to the ECT proposals. Secretary General of ECO informed his counterpart that Energy was a priority sector for ECO. He referred to two important ministerial level meetings on environment and energy in December 2002 and January 2003 respectively. He stated that these ministerial meetings will give new fillip to development in the energy and environment sectors in ECO region as these purport to give new guidelines to decision making bodies in member states.

He stated that this year ECO has completed its 10 years of existence and celebrated its decade of progress on the occasion of ECO Summit of Heads of States and Governments and Council of Ministers meeting in Turkey in October. He informed that the occasion was marked by a Business Forum meeting which saw the getting together of representative businessmen, representatives of Trade Bodies and Economic Ministries from the whole region.

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