ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif conferred the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) awards of excellence on eight prominent figures from different countries.
Speaking at the 13th ECO Summit on Wednesday, the prime minister said the nominations for the awards had been approved by the 22nd Council of Ministers during its meeting on Tuesday.
The nominees had been awarded in recognition of their services in the fields of economics, history, culture, literature, fine arts, science and technology and education.
The awardees had been shortlisted from over 50 nominations.
During the awards distribution ceremony, ECO Secretary General Halil Ibrahim Akca accompanied the prime minister, who was earlier elected as the ECO chairman.
Those, who were conferred awards, included Seema Rasooli from Afghanistan (for her services in history, literature and fine arts), Pasha Karimov of Azerbaijan (science and technology), Mehdi Najafpur from Iran (science and technology), Malik Gurlibayev of Kazakhstan (agriculture and environment), Anwar Baig from Kyrgyzstan (history, culture and literature), Jamal Shah of Pakistan (arts and social work), Syedov Abdus Sattar from Tajikistan (science and technology) and Hassan Jalal from Turkey (education).