The ceremony will be hosted by Abbasabad cultural and tourism zone with the aim of increasing the joint cooperation of the member states in order to strengthen cultural participation and to promote the status of Norouz (the Persian new year celebration), ISNA reported.

In order to enhance the level of cooperation, a memorandum of understanding will be signed between Abbasabad Renovation Company and ECO Cultural Institute.

Eco Park with an area of 27,000 square meters in the northern part of Norouz Park in the cultural and tourism region of Abbasabad, is considered as one of the common cultural characteristics between the member countries of this organization.

Established as Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) in 1964 by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey, ECO is an intergovernmental regional organization encompassing countries from Europe, Caucuses and Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia with more than 460 million inhabitants and over 8 million square kilometers connecting Russia to the Persian Gulf and China to Europe. The overall objective of the Organization is the sustainable economic development of its member states and the region as a whole.

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The president on Thursday delivered a speech to the 14th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization, held via videoconference.

In his address to the summit, held to discuss “regional economic cooperation in the aftermath of COVID-19”, Rouhani hailed ECO as a successful model of regional convergence.

He also called for efforts to find new ways to broaden intra-organizational trade exchanges among the ECO members.

Calling for plans to carry out ECO goals and accelerate the implementation of its trade agreements, President Rouhani proposed the idea of activating and supporting ECO subsidiary organizations, such as the ECO bank, insurance, standards, and chamber of commerce.

Rouhani further emphasized the necessity of removing the obstacles to cooperation among the ECO states in the transportation industry.

ECO enjoys invaluable potential in terms of human and natural resources, energy reserves, complementary economies, interested private sectors, and incomparable regionally and globally transit and transport advantages, he underlined.

There have been major steps towards the enhancement of economic cooperation within ECO and precious achievements have been made, Rouhani said, adding that however, in certain areas such as trade, the achievements have not met expectations.

Despite the high trade potential and the necessary infrastructure in place, intra-regional trade remains as low as less than 10 percent– totally unacceptable. This has also been addressed in the ECO Vision 2025, he added.

Rouhani said that we are of the view that we need to concentrate on the operationalization of the ECO agreed on programs and decisions with a view to accelerating the pace towards realization of the goals and objectives of the Organization.

Implementation of ECO trade agreement, as well as working out ways and means to expand intra-regional trade, further activation of private sectors for the sake of trade boost, strengthening and activation of the existing and new ECO agencies such as ECO Trade and Development Bank, ECO Reinsurance Company are measures to be needed to this end, he noted.

ECO Regional Institute for Standardization (RISCAM), and ECO Chamber of Commerce, as well as removing the obstacles and challenges encountering transit and transport cooperation as the fundamental infrastructure for trade expansion are some other steps to be taken, he further noted.

The Islamic Republic of Iran remains ready to actively contribute to the operationalization of the ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA) and creating the necessary financial, banking, and customs arrangements while having on board all ECO Member States, he pointed out.

Given our geographical location, we are prepared to share our transport network as well as infrastructures and facilities along the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea with ECO Members, particularly the landlocked countries, bridging them with international waters and markets, he added.

The international community is now experiencing formidable challenges which have affected all facets of human life. The COVID-19 has deeply and destructively affected the economic and welfare conditions of the countries in the world, he stated.

No country can afford to tackle such challenges single-handedly. Rather, it requires collective will along with joint cooperation. Accordingly, we consider very timely and promising for ECO Region the theme of this Summit, namely “Regional Cooperation in the PostCOVID Era”, he added.

In the time of the pandemic, the international community has disappointedly failed to act against unilateral measures and unlawful sanctions dragged into the realm of the fight against the disease, targeting the countries’ capabilities in their struggle against this global plague, Rouhani said.

The great powers’ depriving other nations of fundamental rights, as well as their disrespect for international organizations, necessitate a response from the like-minded countries including through strengthening cooperation and creating a united front against these challenges, he underlined.

Meanwhile, Turkey urged for the trade deal between member countries of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to be put into action as soon as possible.

Addressing ECO’s virtual 14th Leaders Summit, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also called for the members to develop their ties with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and urged for the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan opened the summit in his capacity as the chair of the 13th summit, held in Islamabad in March 2017.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan chairs the 14th summit.

Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey are the founding members of ECO, established in 1985. Afghanistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan joined the organization later.

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During the session, the cabinet agreed with the signing of customs agreements between Iran and the Economic Cooperation Organization member states, noting the importance of coordination in customs relations for the development of foreign trade and pursuing the economic goals of the country.

The ECO region comprises ten member states including Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Pakistan, Iran and Turkey are the founder members of the bloc.

The Council also authorized the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development to temporarily sign the amendment protocol for air transport agreement between the governments of Iran and Ukraine.

The government also approved the bill of “Agreement on International Transport of Passengers and Goods between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Swiss Federal Council.”

During the session, the cabinet approved allocating credit and loans for reconstruction and repairing the damages caused by the earthquake in Masjed Soleyman, Khuzestan Province.

The credit that was approved was aimed at reconstructing 1,427 urban housing units and 93 rural units.

The Council of Ministers further discussed and approved allocating credit for the National Project for Investigating Floods.

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Reportedly, Soleimanpour will meet with Pakistani President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The Iranian official will also discuss issues related to ECO including cultural cooperation among ECO member countries, infrastructure development agenda of ECO, regional connectivity and trade liberalization with the Federal Ministers of Information, Finance, Planning, Development and Reforms and Communication.

The official is also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister’s Adviser for Commerce, Textile and Industry Abdul Razak Dawood, and the Chairman Board of Investment (BOI) Haroon Sharif.

ECO is a Eurasian economic intergovernmental organization founded in 1984 in Tehran by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan later joined the economic bloc.

It provides a platform to improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities.

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