Wishes alone are not enough
The ECO summit has given birth to great expectations. Citing the potential of the ECO region, a reference was made to its enormous physical size combined with a vital geographical location and its dynamic human capital. The region, it was rightly observed, is endowed with abundant energy resources, minerals, agriculture, and industry. Islamabad Declaration 2017 and Vision 2025 have been announced. A euphoric Nawaz Sharif addressed the summit as well as a press conference where he gave a long list of fields where member states would collaborate. It was claimed that soon the ECO region would develop into a “key regional economic bloc”. It was stated with “firm conviction” that expanded connectivity, enhanced trade and deeper economic cooperation would transform it “into a bastion of progress, prosperity and peace”
There are, however, hard realities that must not be lost sight of. Over the last 32 years of its life, ECO reached nowhere near what the ten member states had aspired for. Four reasons are generally cited for the organisation’s inability to deliver i.e., lack of political commitment in member countries, absence of complementarities among regional economies, trade and non-trade barriers and inadequate transport linkages. The CPEC, which has generated hopes of the success of ECO, would help remove only the last of the four obstacles. How strong the resistance to removing trade barriers is, is brought out by the fact that despite the ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA) having been signed in 2008, some member states continue to retain reservations on the issue.
The desire for making ECO a success is not enough. It has to be accompanied by a full realisation of the problems that retarded its progress and the way these can be resolved. Just another affirmation of commitment would not bear fruit unless there is a move to create the necessary institutions to translate the goals into reality. Politicians have short attention spans and are carried away by red herrings, forgetting what they had declared the other day a most urgent task. Only institutions have the capacity to continue to pursue the tasks assigned.
