First Meeting of ECO High Level Experts Group (HLEG) on Industry

ECO Secretariat, Tehran, November 22, 2005

 

Press Release

   

 

First Meeting of ECO High Level Experts Group (HLEG) on Industry has started in Istanbul, Turkey on 21st November. The delegations from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Tajikistan and Republic of Turkey are participating in the HLEG Meeting.

 

The HLEG  Meeting was inaugurated by Dr. Yavuz Cabbar, Deputy Undersecretary, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Turkey. In his inaugural statement, he emphasized on more cooperation in the field of industry as industry effects other areas like foreign direct investment, foreign trade policy, SMEs, industrial property rights, standardization, accreditation, technology etc. Industrial cooperation should be assessed not only as the commercial relations among the firms but also sometimes approximation of standards, technological share and process management for processing and marketing of natural resources.

 

He underlined that the regional industrial cooperation strategy and sub-sectors strategies should be considered as a means to increase trade among the region and for integration of the countries with economic and commercial systems of the world.

 

The Representative of the Economic Cooperation Organization in his statement emphasized that enhancing quality of products and services is one of the objectives of ECO countries in the face of increasingly tough global competition. While emphasizing the importance of sound macroeconomic conditions and quality  of infrastructure for industrial development, he expressed that ECO cooperation in industry would help countries in establishing efficient infrastructures and adopting convenient policies and programmes.  

 

On the first day of the Meeting, heads of delegations from the member states delivered their statements on ECO cooperation in the field of industry. The Heads of delegations highlighted their industrial potentials and technical assistance needs. Some of the Heads of Delegations also mentioned their achievements for sustainable macro-economic stability and increasing trade with ECO countries.

 

The Meeting also discussed project proposals presented by the Member States in the fields of automobile industry, textile, food, petrochemicals, energy, minerals such as iodized salt, aluminum, polychloroprene, carbon black glass, fiber reinforced plastic isoprene, phosphoric acid, mono ethylene glycol, naphtha cracking etc.

 

The HLEG is responsible for implementation of coordination, liaison, monitoring, administering and supervising the implementation of the ECO Plan of Action on Industrial Cooperation and decisions of the ECO Ministers Meetings on Industry. The Group is also responsible for preparation of ECO Regional Strategy on Industrial Cooperation.

 

The Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on Industry will be held on 23-24 November 2005. After the HLEG and Senior officials Meeting, Second ECO Ministerial Meeting on Industry will be held on 25 November 2005 in Istanbul. The Ministers are expected to consider/adopt the documents i.e. (i) ECO Regional Strategy on Industrial Cooperation, (ii) ECO Regional Strategy on Standardization, Conformity Assessment, Metrology and Accreditation, (iii) Plan of Actions on Privatization, ECO Technology Transfer Centre, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), Industrial Property Rights (IPR), and (iv) Statute of Regional Organization for Standardization, Conformity Assessment, Accreditation and Metrology (ROSCAM)

 

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