TEHRAN (Iran News) Speaking during the 14th ECO Trade Promotion Organizations Meeting, hosted virtually by Pakistan, Dehnavi emphasized the urgent need for ECO member states to deepen economic collaboration, particularly in the field of trade.

“With our considerable population, rich natural resources, strategic geographic location, and shared cultural and historical ties, ECO countries have all the ingredients to become a global economic hub — but this requires a strong collective will and effective cooperation,” he stated.

Dehnavi described regional trade development as a key tool for securing economic stability, cultural integration, and regional security. However, he noted that ECO’s share of regional trade in its members’ overall trade portfolios remains insufficient. To address this, he proposed several practical measures:     Establishing a harmonized system to streamline customs procedures; Launching and activating joint transportation lines and regional corridors, including the North–South and East–West trade corridors;    Creating bilateral and multilateral barter mechanisms; Expanding joint trade exhibitions, events, and economic delegation exchanges; and developing digital infrastructure and enabling platforms for e-commerce.

Highlighting Iran’s readiness to host specialized meetings on the export of engineering and technical services, knowledge-based agriculture, and the halal industry, Dehnavi stressed the vital role ECO trade organizations can play in financing and investment initiatives. He called for a more active role from the ECO Trade and Development Bank (ECO-TDB) in supporting these efforts.

He also pointed to Iran’s strong capabilities in the export of knowledge-based products and engineering services. “In the past decade, Iran’s knowledge-based sector has seen significant growth, with over 8,000 companies active in biotechnology, nanotechnology, IT, advanced pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and innovative agriculture,” he said. Government support in the form of financial incentives, tax exemptions, and access to science and technology parks has further fueled this growth.

Dehnavi added that Iranian engineering firms have a long-standing presence in the region, having delivered large-scale infrastructure projects in dam construction, water transfer, oil and gas, power plants, and sustainable energy — offering high-quality services at competitive costs. These capabilities, he noted, can contribute significantly to the reconstruction and infrastructure development of ECO member states and neighboring regions, including Central Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

In closing, he expressed hope that collective efforts would transform ECO into a successful model of regional cooperation.

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The four-day meeting has brought together all national government officials and experts responsible for DRR from member states, particularly representatives from regional and international institutions such as The Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IRFC), Regional Education and Research Center on Earthquake Risk Management and Resilience for West and Central Asia (RCECWA), ECO Regional Center for Risk Management of Natural Disasters (ECO-RCRM), dolat.ir reported.

Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are the member states of the organization.

The main objective of the 4th meeting is to present reports and statements of the member states, international institutions, and the ECO secretariats on the implementation status of the ECO Regional Framework on DRR as well as the latest developments on DRR in the ECO Region.

The meeting also focuses on developing a landslide hazard zonation (LHZ) map of the ECO member states, a new plan to assess the science of late quaternary climate change in the regions of the ECO member states, a new plan to prepare flood hazard and risk maps in ECO member states, a new model of geo-environmental risk assessment map of mining areas in the region of ECO member states. They also discussed the 9th Ministerial Conference on DRR’s hosting by member states in 2024.

The third expert group meeting on DRR was virtually organized and hosted by Turkey in 2021.

Economic Cooperation Organization

The ECO is a successful and promising regional organization, and Iran, as one of the founding countries of the organization, has a serious interest in strengthening intra-regional cooperation and promoting the position of ECO as an effective regional mechanism for economic connectivity, Press TV reported.

The international position of the organization, established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey with the aim of promoting economic, technical, and cultural cooperation between the member countries, is growing.

The importance of the organization became more apparent when the United Nations approved in 1985 that ECO become an observer member of the United Nations, as did the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The ECO Region shelters more than 460 million inhabitants and expands over 8 million square kilometers of land, connecting the north to south, south, and east to the west, Asia to Europe, and Eurasia to the Arab World. Composed of some Caucasus, South, West, and Central Asian countries, ECO is one of the oldest intergovernmental organizations.

The founding and fundamental goal of the Organization is to create amenable and conducive conditions for the continued promotion of sustainable economic development in the region, aiming at joint welfare and well-being of the Member States.

The ECO stretched the fabric of its cooperative partnership in the early 1990s, welcoming the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as five Central Asian nations, including the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan, as its members.

The ECO Member States, bearing their shared cultural and historic affinities in mind, appear to be always ready, receptive, and forthcoming to complement each other, intensifying their collaboration with action and result-oriented motives to achieve the perceived target of greater connectivity and integration in the region.

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