H. E. Seyed Mojtaba Arastou, ECO Secretary General, in a meeting, briefed the participants on the conclusions and achievments of the recent ECO Activities.

            Mr. Arastou expressed that upon the invitation of the Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, has attended the 5^th Asian and Pacific Population Conference, in Bangkok-Thailand, from 11-17 December 2002. UNESCAP and UNFPA organized the Meeting, in which more than 30 ministers, as well as the representatives of 6 intergovernmental and 33 non-governmental organizations attended.  The opening statement of Mr. Thaksin Shinawatara, Prime Minister of Thailand inaugurated the Ministerial Meeting. Mr. Kim Hak Su, Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, also read the message of UN Secretary General to the Meeting.

            In the said Meeting, ECO Secretariat presented a report on the population and development issues in the ECO region, in which while referring to the efforts done in order to eradicate poverty and establish sustainable economic development in the region, it is added that the region encompasses more than 376 Million people with the average annual growth rate of 2.1%, so it is an important region of the world. This population growth rate is expected to fall down to 1.6% at the beginning of the new century. The region enjoys a very young population structure that 36.4% of this population is under 14 years of age. The average for fertility per woman is 4, comparatively higher than that of the ESCAP region. The report further expresses that average life expectancy in the region is 63 for men and 66 for women. On the other part of the report it is mentioned that based on the Treaty of Izmir, as the policy charter of the Organization, sustainable Development and improvement of the living standards of the region are among the most important goals of the ECO. There is no doubt that development in the fields of Trade, Transportation and Communications would contribute to the poverty eradication in the region. In this regard cooperation with UNFPA and UNESCAP have been so helpful and ECO could gain achievements in the fields of Transportation and Communications, Trade, Health, Population Control and eradication of poverty.

Mr. Arastou in his statement, addressing the meeting, mentioned that as it is stated in the “Bali Declaration”, sustainable development requires population control and proper exploitation of the human and environment resources, through which a balanced living style would be gained in the region.

            Mr. Arastou further referred to the special features and capacities of the ECO region and added that unfortunately poverty and hunger are the major problems of the region and although some positive indicators regarding eradication of such matters are witnessed, but still there is a long way to be paved to reach to the ultimate goal.

            ECO Secretary General also stated that ECO is closely cooperating with UNFPA since 1994 and in that year an MOU was signed in the frame work of which, five area of cooperation was set. The most important events in this regard were: Conference on Women’s Status and Health (1995), and Family Planning and Health Services (1996). In the following context, based on a jointly agreed project a meeting will be held in Bishkek, Kazakhstan, on Family Health, by the end of January 2003.

            Mr. Arastou, on the sideline of the said meeting, met with the ECO Member States attending the meeting. He also met with ESCAP Executive Secretary, UNFPA Executive Secretary, as well as meeting Foreign Minister of Thailand, in which, the issue of ECO-ASEAN cooperation was discussed. Mr. Arastou also referred to the achievements of the 1^st ECO Ministerial Meeting on Environment and the importance of such cooperation for the region. He also referred to the Environment Plan of Action approved in the said meeting and the MOU to be signed between ECO and UNEP.

            Mr. Arastou, referring to the decisions of the 7^th ECO Summit Meeting in Istanbul, said that cooperation with the international is a major focus of the organization and in this line he attended the 10^th Ministerial Meeting of Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (6-7 Dec. 2002) in Porto, Portugal and gave a written report on the fighting Illicit Drug Trafficking in the ECO region, to the Meeting. In this meeting some ECO Member States, namely Turkey, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, also took part. ECO Secretary General also met with the Foreign Ministers of Tajikistan and Azerbaijan and the Deputy Foreign Ministers of Japan, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan.

            ECO Secretary General in his report explained that based on the statistics of UNDCP, 75% of the Heroin consumed worldwide, was produced in Afghanistan that was reduced significantly in 2001 but again increased in 2002 and would led to a drastic situation in 2003. The first legal step to struggle the issue in the region was included in the Istanbul Declaration (1996) that asked for a Plan of Action on Drug Control, followed by Signing an MOU with UNDCP. The first phase of the joint project conducted in July 1999. Most of the ECO Member States have signed the three UN Conventions on Illicit Drug Trafficking, as well as the Palermo Convention on Trans-national Organized Crime Prevention. He added that since different drug control plans are conducted in the region, it should be noted that these plans would succeed only if: 1. Cover rural areas; 2. Support the technical development of agricultural methods in the puppy cultivating areas; and, 3. Paying due attention to the poor population of the society.

            It is necessary to mention that recently the second phase of the said plan on Drug Control is started through shaping a Drug Control Coordination Unit, which is supported and financed by European Commission and UNDCP.

            ECO Secretary General on the sideline of this meeting met with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and was informed that there is a Drug Control Unit in this Council that is eager to cooperate with ECO in this regard. Mr. Arastou also met with Executive Secretary of UNECE and in the meeting UNECE official asked for expediting the process of signing the agreed MOU with ECO. The Secretary general of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization in a meeting with ECO Secretary general expressed their interest to have the observer status at ECO major gatherings.

            Mr. Arastou, in continuation, mentioned the stress made by the ECO Heads of States reflected in the Istanbul Declaration on expansion of cooperation with the other international organizations. He added that now ECO is internationally recognized and should take advantage of the opportunities to get technical and financial assistance from the other international/regional organizations and duly reach to a better future for the whole region.