Economic Cooperation Organization
Logo
Motto: "Sustainable socioeconomic development for people of the region"
Member states of the ECO
Member states of the ECO
HeadquartersTehran, Iran
Official languages English
Demonym Eurasian
Member states
Leaders
 •  Secretary General Halil İbrahim Akça [1]
Area
 •  Total 7,937,197 km2 (6th)
3,064,568.90 sq mi
 •  Water (%) 6.8
Population
 •  2010 estimate 416,046,863 (3rd)
 •  Density 52/km2
134.7/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2015 estimate
 •  Total US $4.7 trillion (5th)
GDP (nominal) 2015 estimate
 •  Total US $1.9 trillion (8th)
Currency
Time zone (UTC+2 to +5)
Calling code
Website
www.ecosecretariat.org

The Economic Cooperation Organisation or ECO (Persian: سازمان همکاری اقتصادی‎‎, Urdu: اقتصادی تعاون تنظیم‎, Turkish: Ekonomik İşbirliği Teşkilatı, Kazakh: Экономикалық ынтымақтастық ұйымы, Uzbek: Iqtisodiy Hamkorlik Tashkiloti, Kyrgyz: Экономикалык Кызматташтык Уюмунун, Azerbaijani: İqtisadi Əməkdaşlıq Təşkilatı, Tajik: Ташкилоти ҳамкории иқтисодӣ, Pashto: اقتصادي همکاريو د سازمان‎) 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 organization 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 Tehran, its economic bureau is in Turkey and its scientific bureau is situated in Pakistan.

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 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 17 July 2003 in Islamabad.[3] ECO Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) is a new organization for trade promotion among member states located in Iran (2009).[4] 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

Official Name
 Capital
 Area (km²)
 Population
(2015)
 Density
(per km²)
 GDP (2014)(nominal)[5]
 GDP (2015)
(per capita)
(nominal)[6]


Currency
 Official languages
Afghanistan Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Kabul 647,500 26,023,100 40.2 $20.444 million $614.892 Afghani Dari, Pashto
Azerbaijan Republic of Azerbaijan Baku 86,600 9,676,500 111.7 $74.145 million $6,794.432 Manat Azerbaijani, Russian (interethnic)
Iran Islamic Republic of Iran Tehran 1,648,195 78,859,600 47.8 $416.490 million $5,047.835 Rial Persian
Kazakhstan Republic of Kazakhstan Astana 2,724,900 17,630,700 6.5 $216.036 million $11,028.069 Tenge Kazakh, Russian
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz Republic Bishkek 199,900 5,975,000 29.9 $7.402 million $1,197.755 Som Kyrgyz, Russian
Pakistan Islamic Republic of Pakistan Islamabad 796,095 192,208,550 241.4 $246.849 million $1,427.085 Rupee Urdu
Tajikistan Republic of Tajikistan Dushanbe 143,100 8,354,000 58.4 $9.242 million $949.052 Somoni Tajik, Russian (interethnic)
Turkey Republic of Turkey Ankara 783,562 77,695,904 99.2 $798.332 million $9,290.425 Lira Turkish
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan Ashgabat 488,100 4,751,120 9.7 $47.932 million $7,534.021 Manat Turkmen, Russian (interethnic)
Uzbekistan Republic of Uzbekistan Tashkent 447,400 31,022,500 69.3 $62.613 million $2,129.504 Som Uzbek, Russian (interethnic)

Northern Cyprus is an observer member of ECO.[7]

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

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 TBD[8]  Pakistan Islamabad

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.[9]

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. [10]

Others

Relationship with other organizations

All the ECO states are also member-states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (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

Secretaries General

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

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. ↑ "ECOTA" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  4. ↑ Archived 2 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". Imf.org. 2015-06-10.
  6. ↑ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  7. ↑ ECO Secretariat ECO Secretary General Meets the Representatives of Turkish Cyprus State in Tehran
  8. ↑ "The 12th ECO Summit Meeting". Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Leading News Resource of Pakistan". Daily Times. 2010-02-11. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  10. ↑ "ECO Cultural Institute's Medals". http://en.ecieco.org/. Retrieved 31 October 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  11. ↑ "ECO Secretary Generals". Ecosecretariat.org. Retrieved 2012-02-09.

External links

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