16th Meeting of the Council of Ministers (COM) of ECO

Baku, Azerbaijan (4th May, 2006)

ECO Secretariat, Tehran, 4 May 2006

 

Press Release

     

         

            The Sixteenth Meeting of the Council of Ministers (COM) of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) was held on 4th May 2006 in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. Ministers and High ranking officials from ECO Member States including Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Turkey and Republic of Uzbekistan attended the meeting.  The ECO Secretary General along with the relevant staff of ECO Secretariat as well as representatives of ECO Specialized Agencies/Regional Institutions also participated in the meeting.

 

            The Council of Ministers’ meeting was preceded by the Senior Officials’ meeting on 02-03 May 2006, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 

 

            The 16th Meeting of the Council of Ministers was chaired by Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan.  In his remarks, Foreign Minister thanked the Council for reposing confidence in him and outlined his vision for further cementing economic cooperation within the region.  In this context, he assured the continued commitment and support of his government to the goals and objectives of the Economic Cooperation Organization.

 

            Mr. Askhat Orazbay, ECO Secretary General, presented his report and briefed the Council of Ministers on the ECO activities that have been implemented since the 15th Meeting of the Council of Ministers held in October 2005 in Astana. In his statement, Secretary General of ECO expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the government and the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the excellent arrangements made for the meeting. He expressed the hope that under the Chairmanship of the Republic of Azerbaijan, ECO would continue to march towards realization of its cherished goals.

 

            In their statements, Ministers/Heads of Delegations from the member states reiterated their commitment to the ECO’s goals and objectives and informed the meeting about the measures their respective governments have taken to implement the ECO decisions and programmes. The representatives of the ECO Specialized Agencies/Regional Institutions submitted their annual reports on their current and future activities. 

 

The 16th COM meeting, inter alia, reviewed and approved the reports of the meetings of the Council of Permanent Representatives (CPR), ECO Secretariat’s Budget for 2006, ECO Secretariat’s Audit Report for 2005 as well as the reports of the other sectoral ministerial meetings held after the 15th COM meeting in 2005, namely; 2nd Ministerial Meeting on Industry held in Istanbul on 25 November 2005 and the 6th Ministerial Meeting on Transport & Communications held in Tehran on 24-26 April 2006.  The Council also reviewed the status of implementation of the important projects such as ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA), Transit Trade Framework Agreement (TTFA), Passenger and Container Trains, etc. for which some member states were designated as coordinators to facilitate the early realization of these projects.

 

            The Council of Ministers appointed Mr. Khurshid Anwar, Additional Foreign Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, presently incharge of ECO Region, as the new Secretary General of ECO who will take over his assignment in August this year.  The Council congratulated him on his appointment and expressed confidence that due to his vast experience in diplomacy and familiarity with the regional issues, he would be in a position to take initiatives to enhance and accelerate the regional cooperation and promote the ECO’s image and activities.   The Council also paid rich tributes to the outgoing Secretary General H.E. Mr. Askhat Orazbay for the excellent work that he had done for this Organization.

 

            In addition, the Council reviewed the draft Agenda for the 9th ECO Summit which will be held tomorrow, 5th May 2006, in Baku.  The Council also reviewed and finalized the text of the draft Baku Declaration 2006 which will be issued at the conclusion of the 9th ECO Summit.

 

The Council welcomed the offer of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to host the 17th meeting of the Council of Minister (COM) in Afghanistan next year.

             

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