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The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)

The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an organization involving seven Asian and three Eurasian nations. It provides a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade, and investment opportunities. The ECO is an organization under the United Nations Charter (Chap. VIII). 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 organization's population is 416,046,863 and the area is 8,620,697 km².^[1] The organization was founded by Turkey, Iran and Pakistan.

History and role

Economic Cooperation Organization is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey for the purpose of promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among the member states. It was the successor organization of what was the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD), founded in 1962, which ended activities in 1979. In the fall of 1992, the ECO expanded to include seven new members, namely Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

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 Organization Trade Agreement (ECOTA) was signed on 17 July 2003 in Islamabad.^[2] ECO Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) is a new organization for trade promotion among member states located in Iran (2009).

Member states

CoA	Flag & Common name	Official name	Capital	Area (km²)	Population (2010)	Density (per km²)	GDP (2010)(nominal)[4]	GDP (2010) (per capita)[5]	Currency	Official languages
	Afghanistan	Islamic Republic of Afghanistan	Kabul	647,500	28,150,000	46	$10,624 million	$501	Afghani	Dari, Pashto
	Azerbaijan	Republic of Azerbaijan	Baku	86,600	8,997,400	103	$43,019 million	$5,764	Manat	Azerbaijani
	Iran	Islamic Republic of Iran	Tehran	1,648,195	75,078,000	45	$331,015 million	$4,777	Rial	Persian
	Kazakhstan	Republic of Kazakhstan	Astana	2,724,900	16,197,000	6	$109,115 million	$7,019	Tenge	Kazakh
	Kyrgyzstan	Kyrgyz Republic	Bishkek	199,900	5,482,000	27	$4,578 million	$851	Som	Kyrgyz, Russian
	Pakistan	Islamic Republic of Pakistan	Islamabad	803,940	170,030,500	211	$166,545 million	$981	Rupee	Urdu, English
	Tajikistan	Republic of Tajikistan	Dushanbe	143,100	6,952,000	49	$4,978 million	$764	Somoni	Tajik
	Turkey	Republic of Turkey	Ankara	783,562	72,561,312	93	$617,099 million	$8,723	Lira	Turkish
	Turkmenistan	Turkmenistan	Ashgabat	488,100	5,110,000	10	$19,947 million	$3,904	Manat	Turkmen
	Uzbekistan	Republic of Uzbekistan	Tashkent	447,400	27,488,000	61	$32,817 million	$1,320	Som	Uzbek

Organization structure

The following organs exist:

• The Council of Ministers ( COM ) is the highest policy and decision-making body and is composed of Ministers of Foreign Affairs or such other representatives of the Ministerial rank as may be designated by the Government. The council of Ministers meets at least once a year by rotation among the Member States.
  
• The Council of Permanent Representatives (CPR) is consisting 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.
  
• The Regional Planning Council (RPC) is composed of the Head of the Planning Organization of the Member States or such other representatives of corresponding authorities.
  
• The General Secretariat 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 General Secretariat.
  
  • Directorate of Industry & Agriculture
    
  • Directorate of Trade & Investment
    
  • Directorate of Energy, Minerals & Environment
    
  • Directorate of Transport and Communications
    
  • Directorate of Economic Research & Statistics
    
  • Directorate of Project Research
    

Activities

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
  
• Project & Economic Research and Statistics
  

Objectives

• Sustainable economic development of Member States;
  
• Progressive removal of trade barriers and promotion of intra- regional trade; Greater role of ECO region in the growth of world trade; Gradual integration of the economies of the Member States with the world economy;
  
• Development of transport & communications infrastructure linking the Member States with each other and with the outside world;
  
• Economic liberalization and privatization;
  
• Mobilization and utilization of ECO region's material resources;
  
• Effective utilization of the agricultural and industrial potentials of ECO region;
  
• Regional cooperation for drug abuse control, ecological and environmental protection and strengthening of historical and cultural ties among the peoples of the ECO region; and
  
• Mutually beneficial cooperation with regional and international organizations.
  

Principles of cooperation

• Sovereign equality of the Member States and mutual advantage;
  
• Linking of national economic, development plans with ECO's immediate and long-term objectives to the extent possible;
  
• Joint efforts to gain freer access to markets outside the ECO region for the raw materials and finished products of the Member States;
  
• Effective utilization of ECO institutions, agreements and cooperative arrangements with other regional and international organizations including multilateral financial institutions;
  
• Common endeavors to develop a harmonized approach for participation in regional and global arrangements;
  
• Realization of economic cooperation strategy; and Exchanges in educational, scientific, technical and cultural fields
  

Regional institutions & Specialized agencies

• ECO Shipping Company
  
• ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  
• ECO Reinsurance Company^[6]
  
• ECO Trade & Development Bank
  
• ECO Consultancy & Engineering Company
  
• ECO Supreme Audit Institutions
  
• ECO Cultural Institute
  
• ECO Science Foundation
  
• ECO Educational Institute
  
• ECO Drug Control Coordination Unit
  
• ECO Trade promotion Unit
  
• ECO Post
  

  
  

ECO Trade and Development Bank

The Economic Cooperation Organization Trade and Development Bank (the Bank) was established by the three founding members of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in 2005; Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. Its subscribed capital is 300 million SDR, which is to be paid by the member countries equally. For the first five years starting from November 2006, the first President of the Bank is from Turkey (Mr. Murat Ulus) and the position of the President will pass to other member countries on a four-year rotation basis after the first five years. The headquarters of the Bank is in Istanbul, Turkey.

The mission of the ECO Trade & Development Bank is to initiate, promote and provide financial facilities to expand intra-regional trade and to promote the economic development of ECO member countries

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.

ECI's Charter was signed on 15 March 1995 in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Relationship with other organizations

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

Secretary Generals

#	Name	Nat	Period
1	Alireza Salari		1988 - 1992
2	Shamshad Ahmad		1992 - 1996
3	Onder Ozar		1996 - 2000
4	Abdolrahim Gavahi		August 2000 - July 2002
5	Seyed Mojtaba Arastou		July 2002 - August 2003
6	Bekzhassar Narbayev		August 2003 - January 2004
7	Askhat Orazbay		January 2004 - August 2006
8	Khurshid Anwar		August 2006 - August 2009
9	Yahya Maroofi		September 2009 - December 2010
10	Abdullah Gül		January 2011 - present