Iran

President Rouhani Hopeful about ECO’s Bright Future

President Rouhani Hopeful about ECO’s Bright Future

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed optimism about the future of the Economic Cooperation Organization, and said ECO should undergo some reforms to provide the needs of the regional and member states.

“ECO is a big opportunity for the regional and member countries and the Organization needs certain reform measures at the beginning of the third decade of cooperation (among the member states),” Rouhani said, addressing participants in the inauguration ceremony of the 21st ministerial meeting of the ECO in Tehran on Tuesday.

He said that the main goal of such reforms is improving ECO to such a level that it turns into an organization which can provide the needs of the member and regional states.

“I hope to witness extensive regional cooperation and increased welfare and happiness for the member states in light of reforms in ECO in the near future and by taking a look at future horizons,” Rouhani said.

The 21st Meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Council of Ministers kicked off work with the inaugural speech of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani here in Tehran on Tuesday.

Iran will receive ECO’s presidency form the Republic of Azerbaijan at this meeting.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and some of his counterparts from ECO member states are present in the event.

The Turkish, Azeri, Kyrgyz, and Afghan foreign ministers, the Turkmen minister of economy, the Pakistani foreign ministry’s caretaker, and the Kazakh deputy foreign minister are some other participants in the meeting. Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have also sent their ministers to the event as well.

Inauguration of ECO Park is among the programs of the meeting. The ECO Park will be inaugurated in the presence of the Iranian foreign minister, ECO secretary-general and the foreign ministers of the organization’s member states.

ECO is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, which provides a platform to promote economic, technical and cultural cooperation among member states.

The organization was expanded in 1992 to have seven new members, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

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