Technical Cooperation Project (TCP) to support ECO for preparation of a Regional Programme for Food Security (RPFS) was signed by H.E. Ambassador Seyed Mojtaba Arastou, the ECO Secretary General and Dr. Abdur Rashid, the FAO representative in Tehran, on April 7, 2003 at 1000 hours.

As a follow up to the World Food Summit: five years later held in Rome, 10-13 June 2002 where a specific Side-Event was held to discuss a regional food security strategy for ECO region and in line with the decisions of the 1^st ECO Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture held on 23-25 July, 2002 in Islamabad, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provides technical assistance to ECO Secretariat and its Members.

Within the Technical Cooperation Project, FAO commits itself to contribute US$ 385,000 through the different phases of the TCP, which envisages formulating Regional Programme for Food Security for the ECO region, based on the national strategies for agricultural development of the Member States. The national food security strategies emphasize the need to improve land fertility, increase irrigation efficiency, raise crop and livestock productivity, streamline market and price policies for agricultural inputs and outputs, strengthen research and extension and rationalise the credit system in support of market-oriented agriculture.

The Technical Cooperation Project will start first with upgrading in skills of the ECO Secretariat and the Member States for their direct involvement in situation analysis, formulation, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation of activities related to the Regional Programme for Food Security and its sub-programmes.

Moreover, the TCP includes preparation of selected bankable projects for donor consideration. Such projects will be discussed in a meeting to be held in one of the financing institutes with the participation of the ECO and FAO as well as other donors. Some financial agencies have already expressed initial interest in the RPFS, and requested that the necessary proposals be prepared to provide the basis for establishing agreements in providing their support.

The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an inter-governmental organization, comprises Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The principal objective of ECO is the sustainable economic development of its Member Countries.

ECO region covers an area of over 7.9 million sq.km that is almost 5.9 % of the total area of the world and inhabited by more than 370 million people of common cultural heritage. ECO countries having an abundance of agricultural resources and being blessed with different types of soil, climatic and environmental conditions suitable for the different varieties and types of the agricultural products offer a great potential for the development of the agriculture sector. Agriculture sector plays a vital role in ECO countries. The share of agriculture in GDP in ECO region is estimated to be 23%. Agriculture sector also employs 43  % of the economically active population.