About ECO Organization

The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey for the purpose of promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among the Member States. ECO is the successor organization of Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) which remained in existence from 1964 up to 1979. In 1992, the Organization was expanded to include seven new members, namely: the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan. The date of the Organization’s expansion to its present strength, 28th November, is being observed as the ECO Day.

The ECO region is full of bright trading prospects. Despite its young age, ECO has developed into a thriving regional organization and its international stature is growing. Nevertheless, the Organization faces daunting challenges with respect to the realization of its objectives and goals: most importantly, the region is lacking an appropriate infrastructure and institutions which the Organization is seeking to develop, on a priority basis, to make full use of the available resources in the region.

Over the past 12 years, the ECO Member States have been collaborating to accelerate the pace of regional development through their common endeavours. Besides shared cultural and historical affinities, they have been able to use the existing infrastructural and business links to further fortify their resolve to transfer their hopes and aspirations into a tangible reality. ECO has embarked on several projects in priority sectors of its cooperation including energy, trade, transportation, agriculture and drug control.

Current Membership: Islamic State of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan Republic, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Turkey, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan Finance Source: Member contributions.

Language: English

Key Executive: Secretary-General

Secretariat Staff: International staff of the General Secretariat of ECO includes the Secretary-General, 3 deputy secretaries-general, 6 directors, 3 assistant directors and other professionals and technical, administrative and support personnel. The total number of staff is over 60.

For more information about ECO, please refer to its website at www.ecosecretariat.org.