Third ECO Ministerial Meet Ends In Tehran

Tehran, March 7, IRNA – The third ministerial meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) wrapped up here on Wednesday. Oil and energy ministers from the ECO member states attended the two-day meeting. In a 13-article statement issued at the closing of the meeting, the participants stressed the importance of agreements on energy cooperation signed by the ECO leaders during their 2009 meeting in Tehran as well as in Baku in 2012 and highlighted the need to materialize the decisions made in the past two meetings. The statement further stressed the significance of energy sector for ECO and the implementation of the organization’s programs in oil and energy areas for regional development and improving the level of public welfare. The first meeting of the ECO oil and energy ministers held in Islamabad in 2000, while the second commenced in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in 2010. The Economic Cooperation Organization was established by Iran, Turkey and Pakistan in 1985 with the primary objective of raising the living standards of the regional nations. Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan joined the organization later./end