Economic Cooperation Organization

Logo
Motto: "Sustainable socioeconomic development for the people of the region"

Member states of the ECO
Headquarters Tehran, Iran
Official languages English
Demonym Eurasian
Member states
Leaders
Halil İbrahim Akça [1]
Area
• Total
 7,937,197 km2 (3,064,569 sq mi) (6th)
• Water (%)
 6.8
Population
• 2017 estimate
 463,011,736 (3rd)
• Density
 58/km2 (150.2/sq mi)
GDP (PPP) 2015 estimate
• Total
 US $4.7 trillion (5th)
GDP (nominal) 2016 estimate
• Total
 US $1.6 trillion (9th)
Currency
Time zone (UTC+2 to +5)
Calling code

The Economic Cooperation Organisation or ECO is a Eurasian political and economic intergovernmental organization which was founded in 1985 in Tehran by the leaders of Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. It provides a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities. The ECO is an ad hoc organisation under the United Nations Charter (Chap. VIII). The objective is to establish a single market for goods and services, much like the European Union.[2] ECO's secretariat and cultural department are located in Iran, its economic bureau is in Turkey and its scientific bureau is situated in Pakistan.

The nature of ECO is that it consists of predominantly Muslim-majority states as it is a trading bloc for the Central Asian states connected to the Mediterranean through Turkey, to the Persian Gulf via Iran, and to the Arabian sea via Pakistan. The current framework of ECO expresses itself mostly in the form of bilateral agreements and arbitration mechanisms between individual and fully sovereign member states. This makes ECO similar to ASEAN in that it is an organisation that has its own offices and bureaucracy for implementation of trade amongst sovereign member states.

This consists of the historically integrated agricultural region of the Ferghana Valley which allows for trade and common agricultural production in the border region of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Free trade agreements between the industrial nations of Iran and Turkey are due to be signed in 2017.[3] Likewise the Pakistan-Turkey Free Trade Agreement is due to be signed.[4] Pakistan has free trade agreements with both Afghanistan and Iran which are signed and are in the process of implementation, and currently most of Afghanistan trade is through Pakistan. And the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement is designed to facilitate trade for goods and services for Central Asia via both Afghanistan and Pakistan.[5] This is in addition to the Ashgabat agreement which is a multi-modal transport agreement between the Central Asian states.[6]

Further cooperation amongst members is planned in the form of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline as well as a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline. Current pipelines include the Tabriz–Ankara pipeline in addition to the planned Persian Pipeline. This is in addition to the transportation of oil and gas from resource rich Central Asian states such as Kazakshtan and Turkmenistan of minerals and agriculture that complements the industrialisation underway in Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. Pakistan plans to diversify its source of oil and gas supplies towards the Central Asian states including petroleum import contracts with Azerbaijan.[7]

History

The Economic Cooperation Organization was the successor organisation of what was the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD), founded in 1964, which ended activities in 1979. In 1985 Iran, Pakistan and Turkey joined to form the ECO. By the fall of 1992, the ECO expanded to include seven new members; Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The date of the expansion to its present strength, 28 November, is referred to as "ECO Day". The status and power of the ECO is growing. However, the organisation 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. The Economic Cooperation Organisation Trade Agreement (ECOTA) was signed on 17 July 2003 in Islamabad.[8] ECO Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) is a new organization for trade promotion among member states located in Iran (2009).[9] Under the agreement reached between ECO members, the common trade market should be established by 2015.[2]

Official names

The official working languages of the Economic Cooperation Organization is English. The official names of the organization are:

Objectives & Principles of Cooperation

Membership

Full members

Official Name
 Capital
 Area (km²)
 Population
(2017)
 Density
(per km²)
 GDP (2016)(nominal)[10]
 GDP (2016)
(per capita)
(nominal)[11]
 Currency
 Official languages
Afghanistan Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Kabul 647,500 27,657,145 42.7 $18.886 billion $565 Afghani Dari, Pashto
Azerbaijan Republic of Azerbaijan Baku 86,600 9,802,000 113.2 $37.556 billion $3,956 Manat Azerbaijani, Russian (interethnic)
Iran Islamic Republic of Iran Tehran 1,648,195 79,909,700 47.8 $376.755 billion $4,683 Rial Persian
Kazakhstan Republic of Kazakhstan Astana 2,724,900 17,926,500 6.6 $184.361 billion $7,453 Tenge Kazakh, Russian
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz Republic Bishkek 199,900 6,120,400 30.6 $6.551 billion $1,073 Som Kyrgyz, Russian
Pakistan Islamic Republic of Pakistan Islamabad 881,913 196,358,000 222.7 $284.185 billion $1,468 Rupee Urdu, English
Tajikistan Republic of Tajikistan Dushanbe 143,100 8,551,000 59.8 $6.922 billion $800 Somoni Tajik, Russian (interethnic)
Turkey Republic of Turkey Ankara 783,562 79,814,871 101.9 $857.429 billion $10,743 Lira Turkish
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan Ashgabat 488,100 4,751,120 9.7 $36.180 billion $6,622 Manat Turkmen, Russian (interethnic)
Uzbekistan Republic of Uzbekistan Tashkent 447,400 32,121,000 71.8 $66.502 billion $2,122 Som Uzbek, Russian (interethnic)

Observers

Structure

Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers (COM) is the highest policy and decision-making body and is composed of the various Ministers of Foreign Affairs or such other representatives of the ministerial rank as may be designated by the respective governments. The COM meets at least once a year by rotation among the member states.

Council of Permanent Representatives

The Council of Permanent Representatives (CPR) consists of the Permanent Representatives/Ambassadors of the member states accredited to the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as to the ECO and the Director General for ECO Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Regional Planning Council

The Regional Planning Council (RPC) is composed of the Head of the Planning Organization of member states or such other representatives of corresponding authorities.

General Secretariat

The General Secretariat (GS) consists of six directorates under the supervision of the Secretary General and his deputies. Two specialized agencies and six regional institutes are acting under the supervision of the GS.

Activities

Activities of ECO are conducted through directorates under the supervision of Secretary General and his Deputies which considered and evolve projects and programs of mutual benefit in the fields of:

Summits and General Secretaries

List of summits

Heads of State
Meeting Date Country Location
1st February, 16-17 1992  Iran Tehran
2nd 6-7 May 1993  Turkey Istanbul
3rd 14-15 May 1995  Pakistan Islamabad
4th 14 May 1996  Turkmenistan Ashgabat
Extraordinary 14 May 1997  Turkmenistan Ashgabat
5th 11 May 1998  Kazakhstan Almaty
6th 10 June 2000  Iran Tehran
7th 14 October 2002  Turkey Istanbul
8th 14 September 2004  Tajikistan Dushanbe
9th 5 May 2006  Azerbaijan Baku
10th 11 March 2009  Iran Tehran
11th 23 December 2010  Turkey Istanbul
12th 16 October 2012  Azerbaijan Baku
13th 1 March 2017 [13][14]  Pakistan Islamabad

List of General Secretaries

# Name Nationality Period
1 Alireza Salari[15] Iran August 1988 - July 1992
2 Shamshad Ahmad Pakistan August 1992 - July 1996
3 Önder Özar Turkey August 1996 - July 2000
4 Abdolrahim Gavahi Iran August 2000 - July 2002
5 Seyed Mojtaba Arastou Iran August 2002 - July 2003
6 Bekzhassar Narbayev Kazakhstan August 2003 - January 2004
7 Askhat Orazbay Kazakhstan February 2004 - July 2006
8 Khurshid Anwar Pakistan August 2006 - July 2009
9 Yahya Maroofi Afghanistan August 2009 - July 2012
10 Shamil Alaskerov Azerbaijan August 2012 - July 2015
11 Halil İbrahim Akça Turkey August 2015 - July 2018
source ECO Secretaries General

Regional Institutions & Agencies

Azerbaijani stamp celebrating the 10th ECO summit in Azerbaijan.

ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry

ECO-CCI was established on 10 June 1993. Its objectives are to contribute to enhance economic cooperation and relations in trade, industry, agriculture, tourism, contracting, engineering and banking sectors as well as to realize joint investments among the Member States. National Chambers of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkey are member of ECO-CCI. The 7th General Assembly Meeting of ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECO-CCI), held on 20 April 2004 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The participating member states offered some proposals for developing new mechanism and modalities for better interaction between member chambers and to re-activate ECO-CCI.

ECO Reinsurance Company

In March 1995, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey agreed to establish ECO Reinsurance Company. The purpose is supplement the existing reinsurance services in the region, promote growth of the national underwriting and retention capacities, minimize the outflow of foreign exchange from the region and to support economic development in the region. The three member countries decided to form a Trilateral Interim Committee to pave the way for the establishment of this important institution. The Trilateral Interim Committee in its various meetings reviewed the relevant issues such as the development of the business plan and signing of the Articles of Agreement already finalized by a group of Experts from the three founding member countries.[16]

ECO Consultancy & Engineering Company

Governments of all the ECO Member States has established a central resource pool in the shape of ECO Consultancy and Engineering Company (Pvt.) Ltd., or ECO-CEC, to assist in the development projects sponsored by ECO Member States or by its Trade and Development Bank. The founder States are Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Republic of Turkey which hold an equal share in ECO-CEC, Turkey being represented by two companies and Iran and Pakistan, by one each. The Iranian and Turkish Companies specialize mainly in oil and gas pipelines, refineries, petrochemical and industrial engineering, while the Pakistani partner in all other fields of development engineering, including communications, power, urban development public health, telecommunications, water resources development and agriculture. ECO-CEC provides its expertise in the entire range of consultancy operations, starting from conception, project planning and appraisal, through pre-feasibility, feasibility and financial studies, investigation and exploration, site selection to engineering design, material and equipment specifications, construction supervision, contract management, quality control and preparation of technical manuals for the operation and maintenance of the projects.

ECO Trade and Development Bank

The Economic Cooperation Organization Trade and Development Bank (ETDB) was established by the three founding members of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in 2005 which are the Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Republic of Turkey. The Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Kyrgyz Republic became the member of the ETDB in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively.

As of 31 December 2015, the paid in share capital of the ETDB was SDR 310,870 thousand since Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan are in process of payment of their paid-in capital contributions.

The Bank has successfully started its operations in 2008. Its headquarters is in Istanbul (Turkey) and representative offices are in Karachi (Pakistan) and Tehran (Iran). The primary objective of the Bank is to provide financial resources for projects and programmes in member countries. The Bank offers a range of medium-to-long term products i.e. project finance, corporate finance, trade finance and loans to support small and medium-sized enterprises directly or through financial intermediaries to private and state owned entities.

ECO Cultural Institute (ECI)

ECO Cultural Institute (ECI) is affiliated with ECO and aims at fostering understanding and the preservation of the rich cultural heritage of its members through common projects in the field of the media, literature, art, philosophy, sport and education.[17]

Others

Relationship with other organizations

All the ECO states are also member-states of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), while ECO itself has observer status in the OIC since 1995.

Arab League Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Arab Maghreb Union Agadir Agreement Council of Arab Economic Unity Gulf Cooperation Council West African Economic and Monetary Union Economic Cooperation Organization Turkic Council Liptako-Gourma Authority Liptako-Gourma Authority Economic Cooperation Organization Albania Malaysia Afghanistan Libya Algeria Tunisia Morocco Lebanon Egypt Somalia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Benin Brunei Burkina Faso Cameroon Chad Comoros Djibouti Gambia Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Indonesia Iran Iraq Ivory Coast Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Maldives Mali Mauritania Mozambique Niger Nigeria Oman Pakistan Qatar Sudan Palestine Suriname Syria Tajikistan Togo Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Yemen Senegal Gabon Sierra Leone Arab Maghreb Union Agadir Agreement Saudi Arabia
A clickable Euler diagram showing the relationships between various multinational organisations within the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (note that Syria is currently suspended from all organizations included in this diagram due to human rights abuses in the ongoing Syrian Civil War).v • d • e

See also

References

  1. ↑ ".:The Secretariat of Economic Cooperation Organization:.". Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 http://www.tehrantimes.com/economy-and-business/98000-official-irans-share-of-eco-trade-stands-at-10-billion-
  3. ↑ http://theiranproject.com/blog/2017/01/04/turkey-hopes-sign-free-trade-agreement-iran/
  4. ↑ https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/180579-Pakistan-Turkey-sixth-round-of-talks-on-FTA-next-week
  5. ↑ https://aric.adb.org/fta/pakistan-turkey-preferential-trade-agreement
  6. ↑ http://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/362727-Pakistan-announces-to-join-Ashgabat-Agreement-Lap
  7. ↑ https://tribune.com.pk/story/1316410/diversifying-energy-sources-away-gulf-pakistan-set-import-central-asia/
  8. ↑ "ECOTA" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  9. ↑ Archived 2 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ "World Economic Outlook Database". International Monetary Fund. 18 April 2017.
  11. ↑ Some data refers to IMF staff estimates but some are actual figures for the year 2017, made in 12 April 2017. World Economic Outlook Database-April 2017, International Monetary Fund. Accessed on 18 April 2017.
  12. ↑ ECO Secretariat ECO Secretary General Meets the Representatives of Turkish Cyprus State in Tehran
  13. ↑ https://sceneonhaiofficial.com/islamabad-rawalpindi-holiday-eco-summit-2017/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ↑ "Pakistan to host 13th ECO Summit in Islamabad next week". Dawn (newspaper). February 25, 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  15. ↑ "ECO Secretary Generals". Ecosecretariat.org. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  16. ↑ "Leading News Resource of Pakistan". Daily Times. 2010-02-11. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  17. ↑ "ECO Cultural Institute's Medals". http://en.ecieco.org/. Retrieved 31 October 2014. External link in |website= (help)
Videos
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.