Members of the Permanent Representative Council of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) attended a meeting in the northern Iranian city of Rasht, Gilan province on Tuesday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Borqei said one of the reasons of holding such meetings out of Tehran is acquaintances of the ECO members with capacities of Iran provinces.
According to a report by IRNA, ECO Secretary General Yahya Maroofi also said that the meeting of the council is usually held in capitals, but Iran as a host country sometimes holds the meetings in other provinces.
He added that the meeting is an appropriate opportunity for getting acquainted with capacities and abilities of the province, which is a neighbor of a number of ECO member countries.
Gilan Governor General Rohollah Qahremani, as the next speaker, welcomed meeting participants and said that current world economic crisis and its political consequences and weakening of US hegemonic power with the emerging of new regional powers makes it necessary to form and develop new regional unions and strengthen ties between countries.
Considering old constructive interactions among member countries of ECO as well as their long term goals, they can rely on their economic, social and cultural capacities and form a new long term strategic participation.
The 150th meeting of ECO permanent representative council was held with participation of representatives from Iran, Azerbaijan Republic, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an intergovernmental organization involving seven Asian and three Eurasian nations.
It provides a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade, and investment opportunities.
It was established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey for the purpose of promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among the member states.
ECO was the successor organization of what was the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD), founded in 1962, which ended activities in 1979.
In the fall of 1992, the ECO expanded to include seven new members, namely Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The status and power of the ECO is growing. However, the organization faces many challenges.
Most importantly, the member states are lacking appropriate infrastructure and institutions which the Organization is primarily seeking to develop, to make full use of the available resources in the region and provide sustainable development for the member nations.
(Iran Daily, June 3, 2010)
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