October 1, 2005,
Astana. Kazakh Foreign Minister chairs the 15th Meeting of the Council
of the Foreign Ministers of the Member States to the Economic
Cooperation Organization
Ministers and High ranking Officials from ECO Member States
including Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of Azerbaijan,
Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic,
Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of
Turkey, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan attended the meeting.
The ECO Secretary General along with the relevant staff of ECO
Secretariat as well as ECO Specialized Agencies and Regional
Institutions also participated in the meeting. International
organizations namely OIC, IDB, ICARDA and ITC attended the 15th COM
meeting as observers.
During the meeting the diplomats of
the ECO member-states discussed further intensification of trade and
economic integration, necessity to improve the efficiency of the ECO
Secretariat work as well as ensure effective coordination of actions of
the states of the region in priority areas of cooperation.
The Chairman of the 15th ECO COM K.Tokaev stressed the priority of
implementig joint projects in the area of regional transport
infrastructure. “Establishment of a developed transport system is the
most effective way of fighting growing energy crisis and disproportion
in the world development,” the Kazakh Head of Foreign Office K.Tokaev
noted. In his opinion when developing transport routes “it is necessary
to use multichoice ways”.
In addition K.Tokaev said that “the ECO should be more active and
play a key role in reconstruction of Afghanistan”. At present the
Special Fund on reconstruction of Afghanistan accumulates funds
amounting to more than 5 million dollars that will be directed at
development of social projects.
Mr.
Askhat Orazbay, ECO Secretary General, presented his report and briefed
the Council of Ministers on the ECO activities that have been
implemented since the 14th Meeting of COM in 2004. He also highlighted
ECO’s achievements in various fields of cooperation.
In their
statements, heads of delegations reiterated their commitment to the
ECO’s goals and informed the meeting on the measures their respective
governments have taken to implement the ECO decisions and programmes.
The representatives of the ECO Specialized Agencies submitted their
annual reports on their current and future activities.
15th
COM considered the agenda of the meeting, reviewed and approved, inter
alia, the reports of the meetings of the Council of Permanent
Representatives (CPR), ECO Secretariat’s Budget for 2005, ECO
Secretariat’s Audit Report for 2004 as well as the reports of the other
sectoral ministerial meeting held after the 14th COM meeting in 2004
namely 2nd Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture, 2nd Ministerial Meeting
on Environment and 3rd Ministerial Meeting on Commerce/Foreign Trade.
COM deliberated on the implementation of ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA)
and Transit Trade Framework Agreement (TTFA) and urged the member
states to ratify these agreements in order to pave the way for their
early implementation.
The Council also approved the affiliation
of ECO-Consultancy and Engineering Company (Pvt) Limited (ECO-CEC) as a
Regional Institution of ECO.
The important outcome of the
meeting was the adoption of “ECO Vision 2015”. This document will serve
as a basic policy guideline for ECO activities in the next ten years
and sets targets to be achieved in the fields of trade, transport,
energy, health and environment, etc.
The meeting also discussed issues relating to the role of ECO in the
reconstruction of Afghanistan and reaffirmed its resolve to participate
in the international efforts aiming at the reconstruction of
Afghanistan. In this regard, the Islamic Republic of Iran announced
to contribute an amount of US$ 400,000 for the Special ECO Fund for
the Reconstruction of Afghanistan. Pakistan has already pledged US $ 5
million for this Fund.
The next Meeting of the ECO Council of
Ministers will be held in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan before the Ninth
ECO Summit in 2006.
Date of issue: 2005-10-08
