The 16th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on 8-9 November 2023. The ECO Summit, hosted by President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, was attended by President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Iran Ibrahim Reisi, Interim Government Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwaar-ul Haq Kakar, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Ismailov, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahman and President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov (Eco.int, 2023a).
At the summit, issues related to the further development of cooperation between member countries in the fields of trade, economy, investment, transportation and transit, as well as issues related to the further development of the organization’s activities were discussed. Leaders also held bilateral meetings within the scope of the summit. Leaders exchanged ideas on the status and perspectives of cooperation in regional trade, transportation, energy, tourism, agricultural sectors and other fields, and emphasized the importance of member countries being more mutually understanding and sensitive. Drawing attention to the importance of sectoral initiatives to ensure common and sustainable progress and development in the ECO region, the leaders accepted Uzbekistan’s proposal “to organize an International Industrial Fair within the ECO to accelerate the regional economic integration process and to hold the first fair in Uzbekistan in 2024” (Trend.az, 2023). In addition, the importance of demonstrating greater cooperation and common stance in the international arena and increasing the place and influence of the organization at the international level was emphasized in order to collectively address the current geopolitical challenges.
The leaders also discussed the current situation in Afghanistan and called for increasing humanitarian aid to solve the serious socio-economic problems of the Afghan people. They stated that the international community should give a more serious and productive response to the increasing tension in Palestine and the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza. At the meeting, leaders agreed that the next summit will be held in Azerbaijan in 2025 (Setav.org, 2023).
President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that the Economic Cooperation Organization, with its population of 500 million and total income of 1.5 trillion dollars, undoubtedly has an important position in this respect, and emphasized that the trade of the members of the organization with each other corresponds to only 85 billion dollars is thought-provoking. He emphasized that the trade volume should be increased to 100 billion dollars in the first place, and underlined the need to strengthen the cooperation potential from trade to energy, from transportation to the environment. Erdoğan also stated that the Economic Cooperation Organization Trade Agreement, which is among the strategic goals of the 2025 Vision Document and unfortunately has not been implemented for 20 years, should now be put into effect (Iletisim.gov.tr, 2023). It is worth remembering that the Eco-Vision 2025 (Eco.int, 2023b) was approved during the 13th ECO Summit held in Islamabad, Pakistan on March 1, 2017. According to the President of Uzbekistan, trade between ECO countries could double by 2035 and this can be achieved by stimulating mutual trade, strengthening transport and communications, and launching multimodal roads (Sputniknews.ru, 2023).
In 2022, the largest shares in Uzbekistan’s trade turnover with the ECO countries fell on Kazakhstan (37.5%) and Türkiye (26.3%), followed by Kyrgyzstan (10.2%), Turkmenistan (7.5%), Afghanistan (6.1%), Tajikistan (5.5%), Iran (3.5%), Pakistan (1.9%) and Azerbaijan (1.5%). At the same time, the total trade turnover of the ECO member states in 2022 amounted to over 1 trillion dollars (Miit.uz, 2023).
In the press conference after the summit, ECO Secretary General Khusrav Noziri noted that during the presidency of Uzbekistan, important work was carried out to develop regional cooperation in all priority areas and sectors of the organization. It was stated that during this period, preparations were started for the establishment of two important new corridors, such as Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran and Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Türkiye corridors, and these routes would make a significant contribution to regional transportation (Aa.com.tr, 2023). It is also worth remembering that last year, the 30th anniversary of the expansion of the ECO was celebrated with the participation of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and five Central Asian countries.
In this past period, the organization has proven to be an important regional forum and an important cooperation format for regional cooperation, and in today’s world where critical global and regional developments are taking place, the 16th ECO Summit has demonstrated their common determination for sustainable development and the development of the region and has set new goals.
The Economic Cooperation Organization, headquartered in Tehran, Iran, was established in 1985 to contribute to the development of member countries, removing trade barriers within the ECO region and developing intra-regional trade, promoting the integration of the ECO region with global markets, and strengthening cultural and historical ties between member countries. ECO is the continuation of the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) platform, which was established with the declaration published by the heads of state and government of Türkiye, Iran and Pakistan in Istanbul in 1964 in order to develop regional economic cooperation. After the revolution in Iran in 1979, it had to suspend its activities. As economic relations between the three countries began to develop again in the early 1980s, it was decided to continue the cooperation on the legal basis of RCD but under a different name. Thus, the foundation of the ECO was laid in 1985 (Mfa.gov.tr, no date).
With the participation of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, which gained their independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union and Afghanistan, the Organization became an economically focused regional organization in 1992, addressing a population of approximately 500 million in a total area of 8 million km2. While Türkiye, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are member states of the ECO, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has observer member status. The summit is at the level of Heads of State/Government and meets every two years. The Council of Ministers, the highest decision-making body of the Organization, meets once a year at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Mfa.gov.tr, no date).
In summary, it is possible to state that the ECO is a candidate to be the best integration platform in the region by increasing the cooperation between the member countries, which have achieved development and growth in all areas from year to year. It is expected that mutual trade and economic cooperation will increase with the development of the Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran and Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Türkiye corridor projects. Thanks to these corridors and mutual interaction, trade turnover is expected to double by 2035. In this context, it is highly likely that member countries will increase cooperation opportunities with each other and develop joint projects in order to achieve the goals.
References
Aa.com.tr (2023). The 16th Leaders’ Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization held in Uzbekistan ended. Retrieved from https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/dunya/ozbekistanda-duzenlenen-ekonomik-isbirligi-teskilati-16-liderler-zirvesi-sona-erdi/3048933. Accessed on 10.12.2023.
Eco.int (2023a). The 16th Eco Summit in Tashkent. Retrieved from https://eco.int/the-16th-eco-summit-in-tashkent/#:~:text=The%2016th%20ECO%20Summit,ECO%20for%20the%20first%20time. Accessed on 10.12.2023.
Eco.int (2023b). The Related Part of Vision 2025. Retrieved from https://eco.int/elementor-6936/t2/#V2025. Accessed on 10.12.2023.
İletisim.gov.tr (2023). President Erdoğan spoke at the Economic Cooperation Organization Leaders Summit. Retrieved from https://www.iletisim.gov.tr/turkce/haberler/detay/cumhurbaskani-erdogan-ekonomik-isbirligi-teskilati-liderler-zirvesinde-konustu. Accessed on 10.12.2023.
Mfa.gov.tr (no date). Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). Retrieved from https://www.mfa.gov.tr/ekonomik-isbirligi-teskilati-_eit_.tr.mfa. Accessed on 10.12.2023.
Miit.uz (2023). ECO Summit – a platform for the development of trade and economic cooperation. Retrieved from https://miit.uz/ru/news/sammit-oes-platforma-dlja-razvitija-torgovo-ekonomicheskogo-sotrudnichestva-. Accessed on 10.12.2023.
Setav.org (2023). Erdogan’s Messages from the Tashkent Summit. Retrieved from https://www.setav.org/en/erdogans-messages-from-the-tashkent-summit/. Accessed on 10.12.2023.
Sputniknews.ru (2023). Trade turnover between ECO countries could double by 2035. Retrieved from https://tj.sputniknews.ru/20231109/tovarooborot-strany-oes-2035-god-1060400478.html. Accessed on 10.12.2013.
Trend.az (2023). Uzbekistan Offers to Hold First Interregional Industrial Exhibition within Framework of ECO. Retrieved from https://en.trend.az/casia/uzbekistan/3823025.html. Accessed on 10.12.2023.
Note: The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the Institute’s editorial policy.