ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Saturday arrived in Ashgabat on a two-day official visit to Turkmenistan to attend the 15th Summit of Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO).
The Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan received the President at the Ashgabat International Airport. The President was also presented guard of honour.
During the visit, the President will address the plenary session of the Summit. He will also hold bilateral meetings with participating leaders on the sidelines of the ECO Summit.
The summit will review activities of the Organization and adopt “Ashgabat Consensus for Action”. It will also consider the Mid-Term Review of ECO Vision 2025. The president on the sidelines of the visit will also hold meetings with different heads of member states.
The ECO summit will be chaired by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. The theme of the summit is ‘Into the Future Together’. The summit meeting will review the activities of the organisation and adopt ‘Ashgabat Consensus for Action’ as the outcome document.
The ECO is a regional economic trade and development Organization established in 1985. Pakistan, Iran and Turkey are its founding members. The three countries were earlier part of the RCD (Regional Cooperation for Development), established in 1964.
In 1992, the ECO expanded to include Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Afghanistan also became a member later. The ECO region is located in neighbourhood of China, Europe, Russia and Gulf States. It comprises 6.3 percent of world population and contributes more than 2% to global trade with around 3 percent share in global GDP.
Pakistan hosted the 13th ECO Summit in Islamabad in 2017, while the 14th ECO Summit was hosted by Turkey in virtual format. Besides reviewing ECO programs and activities, the Summit meeting will also consider the mid-term review of ECO Vision 2025.
Vision 2025 was adopted in 2017 during the 13th Summit held in Pakistan. It serves as an overarching policy roadmap for the future and revival of ECO and provides guidelines for cooperation in trade, connectivity, energy, tourism, economic growth, social welfare and the environment.
