ECO Secretary General, met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran

ECO Secretariat, Tehran, 23 July 2006

 

Press Release

     

         

Upon the end of His tenure at the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), H.E. Mr. Askhat Orazbay, ECO Secretary General, met with Mr. Manoochehr Mottaki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Saturday July 22, 2006.

 

In this meeting Mr. Orazbay briefed Mr. Mottaki on the ongoing activities and the main achievements of the Organization during his tenure. Explaining last status of the ECO main projects, Mr. Orazbay informed Minister that 1st meeting of the Board of Governors of the ECO Trade and Development Bank convened recently, all necessary procedures to operationalize the Bank have been competed and it is expected that the Bank would start its full operation in few weeks. He pointed that full operationalization of the Bank would make ECO more visible in the region and all over the world and hoped that this major project would turn out to be prosperous institutions to finance and assure full-size regional projects of mutual benefit, for overall regional economic development.

 

Mr. Orazbay also referred to the participation of ECO in Reconstruction of Afghanistan and stated that there has been an encouraging progress towards the implementation of the Plan of Action for ECO’s participation in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. He added that ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan has been established and Iran, Turkey and Pakistan have already contributed more than US$ 10 millions to this fund. As the first project to be financed from this Fund, a project on “Construction of Deh Mazang Public Park” at the cost of US $ 1.2 million as proposed by the Afghan authorities has been approved by the member states. The Park will be called as “ECO PARK”. Within the framework of this project, it has also been proposed to member states to consider constructing small pavilions in this park by each country, which may depict their social and cultural heritage.

 

In conclusion, He expressed his gratitude to H.E. Mr. Mottaki, Government and people of Islamic Republic of Iran for the warm hospitality and kind support and understanding, friendship and devotion extended to him by them during his tenure.

 

Mr. Mottaki while appreciating the efforts of Mr. Orazbay, praised the organization for having a brilliant record and a forward-looking strategy, and said that in light of a 10-year cooperation, the members have been able to draw up their future plans. He attached great importance to the ECO Vision 2015 as approved by 15th Council of Ministers held in Astana, Kazakhstan last year, and said that this important document as a Basic Reference Document of ECO provides the highest-level policy guidelines, which will guide the future course of action of the ECO to bring this organization in conformity with the role that it should play as a dynamic regional organization capable of leading its Member States. He added that further activation of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) would result in expansion of regional cooperation.  

             

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