Sharif for closer cooperation among ECO member states
islamabad — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday urged the members of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) to forge closer cooperation to fully exploit the collective potential of the bloc which accounts for nearly 16 per cent of the world’s population.
Inaugurating the ECO summit here amid high security, Sharif underlined the need for the 10-member bloc to step up cooperation with an aim to increase connectivity and trade.
The 13th summit of ECO was being attended by all the 10 member states: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The presidents of Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were present along with the prime minister of Kyrgyzstan and deputy prime minister of Uzbekistan.
Afghanistan decided to have a lower-level representation through its ambassador in Islamabad. China and the UN were attending as the special guests.
At the start of the summit, Sharif was unanimously elected as the chairman of the summit.
In his address, Sharif urged the member states to help realise the true potential of ECO region whose share in the world’s population is 16 per cent.
“We are an important region but our mutual trade is low. We need to forge closer cooperation in order to fully exploit our collective potential,” he said.
There has never been a more opportune time to realise our dreams of connectivity for regional prosperity,” said Sharif.
Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal, said that peace and stability in the region will play a greater role in achieving mutual economic goals.
“We can meet the challenges of poverty by implementing a joint strategy,” he said.
Sharif, later in the day, expressed the member nations’ resolve to fight terrorism and extremism collectively.
“We are determined to collectively face challenges such as extremism, terrorism and drug trafficking in order to realise our vision of making the region a zone of peace and prosperity,” he said in a televised Press conference. “We have committed ourselves to working together for bringing progressive change to the lives of the people in our region, transforming it into a bastion of peace, progress and prosperity.”
The theme of the 13th Summit is “Connectivity for Regional Prosperity”, which assumes special significance in the backdrop of the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Radio Pakistan reported that the member states will focus on intraregion and inter-region connectivity in energy, infrastructure, transport and trade sectors.
The summit will also adopt Islamabad Declaration and ECO Vision 2025, approved by the council of ministers, envisaging road map for enhanced economic cooperation and connectivity.
It is believed that the ECO summit was important for Pakistan to achieve regional limelight after the Saarc summit was cancelled last year due to a boycott led by India.
The ECO was established in 1985 by Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. In 1992, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were also included. — PTI, AP