Seven Asian and three Eurasian nations will observe Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) day on Wednesday.
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is a regional intergovernmental organization for the purpose of economic cooperation between its member states on the basis of their common needs in the light of the changes taking place on global economic scenario. The member states of the ECO are Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The ECO was formally established by Iran, Turkey and Pakistan in 1985 as the successor Organization of Regional Cooperation for Development which remained in existence from 1964 to 1979. And, it became an Organization of ten member countries encompassing an area of 7 million sq kilometers -inhabited by now about 400 million people- when other member states joined in the Organization on 28 November, 1992 which is observed as the ECO Day.
The ECO provides a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade, and investment opportunities. The ECO is an ad hoc organization under the United Nations Charter. The common objective is to establish a single market for goods and services, much like the European Union. ECO’s secretariat and cultural department are located in Tehran, its economic bureau is in Turkey and its scientific bureau is situated in Pakistan.
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. The Economic Cooperation Organisation Trade Agreement (ECOTA) was signed on July 17 2003 in Islamabad ECO Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) is a new organization for trade promotion among member states located in Iran (2009). Under the agreement reached between ECO members, the common trade market should be established by 2015.
Activities of ECO are conducted through Directorates under the supervision of Secretary General and his Deputies which considered and evolve projects and programmes of mutual benefit in the fields of Trade and Investment,Transport and Telecommunications,Energy, Minerals and Environment, Agriculture, Industry and Tourism, Human Resources & Sustainable Development and Project & Economic Research and Statistics.
