ECO Economic Cooperation Organization (Central Asia)

Course summary Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)

The ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization) region is geographically vast and well endowed with potential economic resources in different fields and sectors, such as agriculture and arable land, energy and mining, human resources, and a vast strategic trading region.

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 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.

One of the main objectives of ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization) as a regional grouping is to promote trade within the region and the rest of the world based on the principle of free trade, and to meet the challenges of globalization.

In pursuance of this objective, a number of projects and programs have been embarked upon during the past five years. These ECO projects and programs can broadly be categorized as under:

- Trade liberalization activities
- Trade facilitation projects
- Cooperation with international agencies.

The ECO region as a whole posted a robust annual average GDP growth rate of more than 6% since 2002. The overall GDP of the region reached some US$ 1.47 trillion by the end of 2008. The sustained GDP growth rates over the recent years has helped increase income per capita as it increased by 54% from US$ 4,103 in 2002 to US$ 6,337 in 2008. The regional countries continued to implement a range of reforms to create favorable conditions for attracting Foreign direct investment (FDI) which includes improvements in investment legislation, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and liberalization of investment flows.

With more than 400 million inhabitants, ECO region houses around 6% of the world population, whereas the total trade share of the region in the world trade is about 2%. The intra- export ratio of the region reached around 6% in 2008. The regional economies are continuously making efforts to promote intra-Regional trade and implementing measures to improve regulatory framework in the region.

Example of the course Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO):

ECO Chamber of Commerce and industry ECO-CCI, was founded by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines, and Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and industry, in 1990. Today, ECO-CCI has 10 members

The Economic Cooperation Organization Trade and Development Bank is a Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) established on August 3, 2005 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, which are the founding members of the ECO.

Central Asian countries